Henry Kelly: scientist and activist improving lives with science and technology
by Vicki Wolf

Henry Kelly, PhD, president of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), believes science and technology can help solve the earth’s problems. To affect the solutions and changes needed to sustain this home to more than six million people – nine billion by 2050 – science and public policy need to come together. This work requires technical knowledge coupled with a clear understanding of existing laws, economics and political opposition. The scientist becomes an activist in working to bring these solutions into public policy.

Kelly was inspired to pursue this career path by his father. “My father was a scientist who was very concerned about public interest,” Kelly says. “He had a passionate love for science with a sense of obligation for public issues.”

Bringing science and public policy together is a difficult career path that involves active political education with focus on analytical skills. “People almost always have good reasons for their position, so it is important that you are able to communicate your ideas to people who are not scientists,” Kelly says.

Kelly has been actively bringing science and public policy together since the 1970s. His distinguished career has involved a wide range of projects with global impact including arm’s control, renewable energy, energy efficiency, the environment, and education policy. Kelly has received impressive recognition for his work including the 2002 APS’ Leo Szilard Lectureship Award for “promoting the use of physics for the benefit of society.” He was named the biannual “Champion of Energy Efficiency” in 2000 by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, and was elected a fellow of the American Physical Society in 1989.

Before taking the helm of FAS, Kelly was assistant director for Technology in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In this position, he worked in the highest levels in all agencies of government with significant science and technology programs. His work focused on finding ways to integrate environmental and resource conservation goals with programs designed to strengthen the economy and generate employment. It also involved seizing the opportunity presented by emerging information technologies both for encouraging growth and for advancing national aspirations in education, the environment, health care, air safety and many other areas. This work resulted in the paper, Technology for America’s Economic Growth, which defined the Clinton administration’s goals in science and technology.

Kelly also led the support group for the vice president during negotiations for the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles; served as principal White House contact for the President’s Information Technology Advisory Committee; played a major role in designing the administration’s five year, $3.6 billion Climate Change Technology Initiative announced in 1998, and many other projects.

While in the Office of Science and Technology Policy, Kelly led the Partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) that commits a number of agencies, institutions, and state and local governments to a set of ambitious goals for improving home quality while reducing costs. Under Kelly’s leadership, FAS has taken these goals for housing to new levels with their Housing Technology project.

Houston will be the first city in the United States to be involved in this project that involves building a model home that demonstrates the use of structural insulated panel construction as part of a safe, environmentally-friendly, and cost-efficient home. Construction is planned to begin in late spring. FAS will monitor costs, energy use, indoor air quality and other characteristics of the home as part of an ongoing research project to study and design the best housing technology for environments in the US and the world.

Kelly says FAS’ deep concern about the environmental and resource crises the United States and the world are facing led them to the Houston housing project.

“Frustrated by the fact that ideology and political gridlock in Washington have blocked any serious action, we set out to find areas where real progress could be made,” Kelly says. “We wanted something our scientists could help create and could have a major impact on the environment and world energy resource problems; make sound business and market sense; and we could practically undertake with the resources available. Conversations with friends, particularly Roger Rasbach and Jane Dale Owen in Houston, helped us focus on improving housing technology to simultaneously reduce costs and improve quality, which meets the FAS criteria perfectly.”

Kelly says Houston is a good location for the project because it has superb engineering talent; housing designs by Roger Rasbach, Houston architect, are perfectly suited for FAS technology and the Houston climate; the region is growing making it a good place to get a new construction concept adopted and used rapidly; and the growth has attracted some of the nation’s most creative developers and construction firms.

According to Kelly, the Houston climate presents challenges that must be met in many growing areas around the nation – high air conditioning bills and safety concerns including: resistance to hurricanes and strong storms, mold, termites and other potential problems.

“As the Energy Capital of the World, Houston also is the perfect place to take a lead in the energy technologies of the future – technologies that make good business sense to builders, provide real quality for consumers and a real contribution to national energy and environmental challenges.”

Kelly lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife, Ann Cline Kelly. He has two children: Alice, 21, is about to graduate from Connecticut College with a double major in Environmental Studies and English. She's just completed a senior thesis on "Vegetation Classification and Invasive Plant Species Distribution Analysis in the Pawcatuck Borderlands Project Area, Rhode Island and Connecticut". Sophie, 22, is a first year graduate student in Archeology at Arizona State University. She is interested in the pre-Colonial Indian cultures of the American Southwest.

For more information about the Federation of American Scientists, go to www.fas.org.

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