Abbreviation CIERP Founder William Moomaw Location Medford, Massachusetts | Formation 1992 Type Academic organization | |
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Fields Environmental policy within international relations | ||
The Center for International Environment and Resource Policy (CIERP) is an interdisciplinary education and research organization founded in 1992, devoted to the study of international sustainable development, within The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, at Tufts University.
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Activities
CIERP is a research center at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy devoted to research, education, and policy-making in sustainable development. Its areas of inquiry, called research programs, include: Energy, Climate and Innovation; Agriculture, Forests, and Biodiversity; Sustainable Development Diplomacy and Governance; Sustainable Development Economics; and Water and Oceans. The Center describes its approach as multidisciplinary, looking for "innovative approaches to shifting global development onto a path that is more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable," analyzing how "economic and social activities impact the environment, and design strategies for meeting human needs without straining the planet’s resources."
The research arm of CIERP is composed of three core faculty members, with five affiliated faculty from The Fletcher School and Tufts University as well as between 5 and 10 research fellows. Its education activities include offering courses at the master’s level as part of The Fletcher School's International Environment and Resource Policy field and direction and supervision of PhD students. While the center's outlook is global, faculty research concentrates on the United States, China, India, Brazil, and Niger.
The Center is also engaged in advancing evidence-based policy making by disseminating its research through publishing academic peer-reviewed papers, commentary in print and on-line media, organizing conferences, and issuing reports. Its faculty have appointments at organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Council on Foreign Relations, The Nature Conservancy, Woods Hole Research Center, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the White House.
History
CIERP was established in 1992 by William Moomaw, Professor of International Environmental Policy, now Professor Emeritus. CIERP is one of five major centers at the Fletcher school devoted to the study and practice of different fields of international relations. In 2007, the year that the Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC and Vice President Al Gore, the school's Dean Stephen W. Bosworth stressed that "Issues such as energy and the environment are among the most pressing topics that a school such as Fletcher is going to have to address in the coming years", deciding to "enhance resources in teaching and research in these areas." William Moomaw had been a long time contributor to the IPCC reports.
In 2013 Moomaw stepped down and Kelly Sims Gallagher took over as the second director of the center. When Gallagher was appointed to the position she stated “People have spent the first 20 years of the program solidifying its presence, and I want the next 20 years to be about broadening our impact through teaching, research and policy analysis”. The following year she was appointed senior policy advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's Energy and Environment Division for the 2014-15 academic year, returning to CIERP in fall 2015.
William Moomaw (1992-2013)
CIERP was founded in 1992 by William Moomaw, the then Professor of International Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Moomaw remained the director of the center for 22 years, until his retirement in 2013. He holds a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Moomaw worked at the intersection of science and policy, advocating for international sustainable development. Moomaw has given expert testimony in the U.S. Congress, and written reports for the United Nations. He worked on energy and forestry legislation and on legislation that eliminated American use of CFCs in spray cans to protect the ozone layer. He was also a lead author for several Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, including being the coordinating lead author on greenhouse gas emissions reduction Energy Supply in Mitigation of Climate Change.
Kelly Sims Gallagher (2013-present)
In 2013 Kelly Sims Gallagher was appointed the director of CIERP. Gallagher is the Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She studied international relations a Masters and a PhD from The Fletcher School. Before joining the Fletcher faculty in 2009 she was a Senior Research Associate and Director of the Energy Technology Innovation Project at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Gallagher was a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) Energy Technology Innovation System Working Group that contributed to accelerating the pace of change in energy technologies through integrated federal energy policy. For the academic year of 2014-2015, Gallagher was appointed Senior Policy Adviser at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's Energy and Environment Division.