George Atkinson
Sigma Xi Immediate Past President
Executive Director
Institute on Science for Global Policy
Dr. George H. Atkinson was named by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell to be Science and Technology (S&T) Adviser to the Secretary (STAS) in September 2003 and continued to serve as STAS under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. As a Senior Executive staff position equivalent to an Assistant Secretary of State, the STAS is a principal interlocutor for science and technology with the U.S. Department of State. Dr. Atkinson joined the U.S. Department of State in 2001, following a national search by the American Institute of Physics as the first Science Diplomat in the Department of State for Science, Technology, and Diplomacy. From 2002-03, he served as a Senior Science Adviser within the U.S. Department of State dealing with global scientific advances having foreign policy significance. After leaving the Department in late 2007, Dr. Atkinson launched the new Institute on Science for Global Policy, which focuses on improving the role of credible scientific understanding in the formulation of domestic and international public policy.
Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP)
In 2008, Dr. Atkinson launched the new Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP). The principles underlying the ISGP derive from Dr. Atkinson's view that the effectiveness of timely governmental and societal policies are increasingly dependent on decision makers obtaining an accurate understanding of the often transformational opportunities and potential risks associated with emerging and "at-thehorizon" scientific achievements, as well as with the technologies emanating from them. As ISGP Executive Director, Dr. Atkinson seeks to guide the ISGP in the creation of a new type of forum in which governmental, private sector, and societal decision makers routinely obtain a globally objective, up-to-date understanding of the science and technology (S&T) that can be reasonably anticipated to significantly impact the prosperity and security of the increasingly global societies of the 21st century.
ISGP programs are designed to support the ongoing efforts by governmental, private sector, and societal institutions to (i) obtain a continuously updating, intellectually sound understanding of existing, emerging, and "at-the-horizon" global S&T achievements that can alter societies, (ii) identify the potential policy significance of these S&T advances and (iii) formulate and implement policies that optimize the allocation of finite financial and human resources. ISGP programs use an ongoing (2- year plus) series of conferences that address a given S&T topic (e.g., energy and climate change, infectious diseases, or food safety and security, etc.) through critically debating policy position papers prepared and defended by a few (typically eight) invited scientists selected globally. Governmental, private sector, and other societal leaders are invited by the ISGP to participate in these debates and caucuses to identify areas of consensus and actionable next steps that can be recommended to those leaders who either make or influence policy decisions. All debates and caucuses, conducted under "not-for-attribution" conditions, focus on identifying "actionable decisions" derived from credible scientific options as viewed through international perspectives and practical challenges.
Science and Technology Adviser to the U.S. Secretary of State (STAS)
As STAS, Dr. Atkinson strengthened the Department's scientific capacity by: (i) promoting existing (e.g., the American Association of the Advancement of Science Fellows) and creating new (e.g., the Jefferson Science Fellows for tenured scientists and engineers from U.S. universities) programs; (ii) fostering a more anticipatory, proactive engagement of scientific understanding in the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign policy (e.g., the Perspectives on the Future of Science and Technology, the Global Dialogues on Emerging Science and Technology held in Japan, Germany, China, India and South America, and the Global Science Partnerships for the 21st Century); (iii) providing advice on key contemporaneous S&T policy issues (e.g., improving visa policy, the U.S.-Japan Framework Initiative on a Safe and Secure Society, the Iraqi Virtual Science Library, R&D Challenges for Regional Stability and Capacity Building for the National S&T Council, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor [nuclear fusion or ITER]); and (iv) promoting existing as well as developing new key domestic and international S&T relationships.
Following an undergraduate (high honors, phi beta kappa) degree from Eckerd College, Dr. Atkinson received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Indiana University in Bloomington. He was a National Academy of Science postdoctoral fellow (1971-73) at the National Bureau of Standards before becoming a Professor of Chemistry at Syracuse University until 1983, when he joined the University of Arizona as Professor of Chemistry and Optical Sciences and Head of the Chemistry Department. During his service in the Department of State, he remained a tenured Professor at the University of Arizona, on leave.
He has received a number of awards, among them the Senior Alexander von Humboldt Award (Germany), the Senior Fulbright Award (Germany), the Lady Davis Professorship (Israel), the SERC Award (Great Britain), an Honorary Doctorate from Eckerd College, the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Indiana University, and the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellow Award from University of California, Irvine. He has been a visiting professor at distinguished Universities and research institutions in Japan, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, and France. He was a visiting Annenberg Professor at Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA. He has more than 160 publications in referred scientific journals and books, and has held more than 66 U.S. and foreign patents. Professor Atkinson has also received numerous awards in recognition of his teaching, including the University of Arizona's Provost Award for Teaching Innovation and "outstanding teacher at the University of Arizona" as selected by the students.