PROFESSOR JAMES E. GIRARD, AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
Professor James E. Girard will serve in the Bureau of Oceans, Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES), Office of Environmental Policy. He will serve as the senior technical advisor on preparations for the 2009-2010 UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and will lead an interagency process to prepare the United States National report on sustainable development of transportation, mining, chemicals and waste management, as well as sustainable consumption and production, all of which are being addressed by the UN CSD in this cycle. The UN CSD is the intergovernmental process established by the UN to follow-up on the "Rio Earth Summit" on Environment and Development in 1992 and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.
Professor Girard is Chairman of the Chemistry Department at American University. Since he has been at American University, he has supervised over 45 theses and Ph.D. dissertations and received more than 3 million dollars in external grants. He is also the author of two textbooks. The first book, Principles of Environmental Chemistry, was first published in 2004 and a second edition has been released in the summer of 2009. The second book, Criminalistics: Forensic Science and Crime, was first published in 2007. The manuscript for a second edition is being written now for a spring 2010 release.
Professor Girard is a specialist in analytical chemistry. He has published over 70 articles on the methods and techniques used to separate and identify complex mixtures. He has directed research projects that developed methods for the analysis of environmental pollutants in soil and water. Additionally his students have perfected chromatographic techniques to determine the amount of neurotransmitter present in humans and animals.
James E. Girard received his Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University. He has also taught chemistry at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts and worked as an industrial chemist. Prior to coming to American University, he was employed by General Electric's Corporate Research and Development Laboratory.
