Event

The Department of Earth & Environmental Science

University of Pennsylvania

Invites you to attend our annual

 Henry Darwin Rogers Special Lecture and Student Awards Ceremony

Friday, May 5th  2:30-4:30 PM

Location: Glandt Forum located in the Singh Center for Nanotechnology

"From the ground up: A soil scientist goes to Washington, DC"

The talk will cover her career arc, starting from the earth science research she conducted in her academic career as a soil biogeochemist and her current role as the Director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science tasked with leading the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. Bringing the perspective of an earth system scientist into the world of science policy, Dr. Berhe will discuss how the Office of Science works to: drive the frontiers of science across disciplines; enable solutions to some of the grand challenges of our time; and expand participation of folx from all walks of life in science.

Speaker:

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe
Director, Office of Science
U.S. Department of Energy

Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe is the Director of the Office of Science for the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Berhe is currently on leave from the University of California (UC), Merced where she holds the Ted and Jan Falasco Chair in Earth Sciences and Geology; is a Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry; and previously served as Associate Dean for Graduate Education. Her research focus lies at the intersection of soil science, global change science, and political ecology with an emphasis on how the soil system regulates the earth’s climate and the dynamic two-way relationship between the natural environment and human communities.

She previously served as the Chair of the US National Committee on Soil Science and member of the Board of International Scientific Organizations at the National Academies; Leadership board member for the Earth Science Women’s Network; and founding a co-principal investigator in the ADVANCEGeo Partnership – a National Science Foundation funded effort to empower scientists to respond to and prevent harassment, discrimination, bullying and other exclusionary behaviors in research environments.

Her scholarship and efforts to ensure equity and inclusion of people from all walks of life in the scientific enterprise have received numerous awards and honors. Dr. Berhe is a: member of the National Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and member of the inaugural class of the US National Academies’ New Voices in Science, Engineering, and Medicine.

Berhe received a B.Sc. in Soil and Water Conservation from the University of Asmara; an M.Sc. in Political Ecology from Michigan State University; and a Ph.D. in Biogeochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a UC President’s Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley and UC Davis.