KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former presidential science advisor and University of Tennessee professor will deliver UT’s summer commencement address Aug. 13.
Dr. John H. Gibbons, who served as President Clinton’s science advisor from 1993-1998, will speak at 9 a.m. in Thompson-Boling Assembly Center and Arena to the approximately 1,500 students who will receive degrees.
Gibbons, now the Karl T. Compton Lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and senior fellow at the National Academy of Engineering, was director of UT’s Energy, Environment and Resources Center and a physics professor from 1974-1979. Before coming to UT, he was director of the Federal Office of Energy Conservation and was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
As science advisor, Gibbons was one of six Cabinet-level advisors to the president and vice president. He was responsible for coordinating science and technology policy and budgets across the federal government.
From 1979-1993, Gibbons was director of Congress’s Office of Technology Assessment. He earned the bachelor’s degree from Randolph-Macon College and the doctorate in physics from Duke University.