Dr. D. James Baker
Former Under Secretary of Commerce and NOAA Administrator D. James Baker is an internationally recognized authority on applications of science and technology to environmental issues. He has also served as Director of Forest and Land-Use Management at the Clinton Foundation, the President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, the President of Joint Oceanographic Institutions Incorporated in Washington, D.C., and Dean of the College of Ocean and Fisheries Sciences at the University of Washington. He has advised UNESCO, the World Bank, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization; served on Presidential Commissions; chaired numerous national and international advisory committees; and testified frequently to the United States Congress on oceans, climate, and environmental issues. He is currently on the affiliate faculty of the School of Marine Science and Policy at the University of Delaware and has taught oceanography and geophysical fluid dynamics at the University of Washington, Harvard University, and the University of Rhode Island.
For his work in applications of satellite technology, he was awarded the Vikram Sarabhai Medal for “Outstanding Contributions to Space Research in Developing Countries” from the Committee on Space Research and the Indian Space Research Organization. For his work in oceanography he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from Oceanology International. He co- founded and was the first President of The Oceanography Society and is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published more than 100 research papers; is author of the book “Planet Earth: The View from Space” published by Harvard University Press; and has a joint U.S. patent for the design of a deep-sea pressure gauge which was used to make the first deep-sea tide measurements in the Antarctic. Dr. Baker was educated at Stanford University and Cornell University. He has a PhD in physics and three honorary degrees.