Update: Keynote Address

Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Cristián Samper to Keynote

Cristián Samper, PhD, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, will deliver the opening keynote address at the Biodiversity in a Rapidly Changing World Conference on Monday, December 8, 2008. Samper will speak to the biodiversity crisis in the context of a rapidly changing world, raise key issues, and encourage the public to work and act together with science as their guide.

Prior to his position at the Smithsonian, Cristián Samper has served in a number of roles in the conservation field. He is widely known for his work in the Andean Cloud Forest, environmental policy, and conservation biology. Samper served as director of the environmental division of the Foundation for Higher Education in Colombia until 1995 after which he became founder and director for the Alexander Humbolt Institute in Colombia. He has also served as Chief Science Advisor for Biodiversity to the President of Colombia and the Acting Secretary of the Smithsonian Institute until the appointment of G. Wayne Clough. Samper received a bachelor’s degree at the Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia followed by a Masters and Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University.

Register Visit the Website Questions? email: conference@ncseonline.org

picture from: newsdesk.si.edu