D. James Baker

Dr. D. James Baker brings extensive science, engineering, environmental, and political skills to bear on major national and international environmental and climate issues. He is currently the Director of the Global Carbon Measurement Program of the William J. Clinton Foundation focused on making satellite data available and bring technical training to developing countries. He served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of NOAA in the Clinton Administration where he worked with DOD to develop plans for a new joint satellite weather monitoring program. He led the effort to establish a global network of ocean observing robotic instruments and was a member of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission that helped release satellite data from the Russians.

His science background includes a Ph.D. from Cornell in atomic physics and post-doctoral work at Harvard University where he discovered a new rotating fluid dynamics instability and designed and received a patent for a new deep sea pressure gauge. He began his career at Harvard University where he made the first deep sea pressure measurements in the Antarctic Ocean. At the University of Washington he was Professor and Dean of the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, working with NASA and NOAA on oceanographic and weather satellites. As President of Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Incorporated, he put together the first ten-year plan for a NASA program on the ocean and was responsible for the management of the Ocean Drilling Program, bringing commercial oil drilling platform technology to bear on deep drilling on the ocean floor. He is the author of the book: "Planet Earth - the View from Space" which reviews earth remote sensing systems. He has had extensive experience in dealing with the public on science and environmental issues through his NOAA appointment and a later term as President of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.