Presentation of the National Medal of Science to Distinguished Professor Emeritus Gilbert F. White of the University of Colorado at Boulder will be carried live by webcast and satellite feed beginning at 5:30 p.m. MST on Friday, Dec. 1.
White and the other laureates will meet with President Clinton Friday morning for individual and group pictures by the official presidential photographer. The photos will be posted Friday afternoon at .
The Washington, D.C., awards dinner at the National Building Museum will be carried by the following Web sites: , , and .
The ceremony, scheduled to last one hour, also will be available by live satellite feed at the following coordinates:
KU Band Satellite
Telstar 4 K-13
Position 89 degrees
Downlink Frequency 12094 MHz (v)
C-Band Satellite
Galaxy 3 C-23
Position 95 degrees
Downlink Frequency 4160 MHz (H)
A test signal will be carried from 5 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. MST. For technical questions prior to the event contact Warren Junium at (202) 833-3310 or Carol Swain at (202) 258-9897.
Also on Dec. 1, National Public Radio science correspondent Joe Palca will moderate a discussion among the 17 recipients of this year's National Medals of Science and Technology on "A Future Based on Science and Technology: Will U.S. Middle and High School Students Be Ready for the Challenge?"
The roundtable will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. MST in the Horizon
Ballroom of the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C. Following the roundtable, the laureates will be available for individual interviews with journalists and science writers.
White is one of 12 scientists nationwide selected to receive the National Medal of Science this year, the nation聮s highest scientific honor. He was cited for his outstanding leadership and scientific contributions to geography and environmental sciences and for helping shape the nation's policies on flood plains, water use and natural disasters for more than five decades.
Besides being known as the "father of flood-plain management," White has made major contributions to the study of water systems in developing countries, global environmental change, international cooperation, nuclear winter, geography education and the mitigation of natural hazards including earthquakes, hurricanes, and drought.
President Clinton is scheduled to present the National Medal of Science to White at the Dec. 1 awards dinner.
White is the third CU-Boulder faculty member to win the award. Nobel laureate Thomas Cech, distinguished professor of chemistry and biochemistry and president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, won the award in 1995 and Keith Porter, former faculty member and chair of the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department, won in 1977.
White, who turned 89 on Nov. 26, is CU-Boulder聮s Gustavson distinguished professor emeritus of geography, founder of CU聮s Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center and former director of CU聮s Institute of Behavioral Science. He joined the CU-Boulder faculty in 1970 after 14 years as a professor at the University of Chicago and 10 years as president of Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He still conducts research and is active on the CU-Boulder campus.
For more information on the laureates, visit news/press/00/pr0089.htm and .
For more information on the Dec.1 events, contact Peter Caughey in the CU-Boulder Office of News Services at (303) 492-4007, Bill Noxon of the National Science Foundation at (703) 292-8070 or Ellen Kugler at (703) 644-3039.