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February 22, 2011


Managing Risk: The Case of Safer Alternatives to Toxics



Tuesday, February 22 (Frost Lounge, Ell Hall)
12-1:30pm

Joel Tickner
Associate Professor
Department of Community Health and Sustainability, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Robert A. Rio
Senior Vice President for Government Affairs
Associated Industries of Massachusetts

Moderator:
Jennifer Nash
Senior Research Associate
Nanotechnology and Society Research Group, Northeastern University

#1: Introduction by Nonnie Burns

#2: Opening Remarks by Jennifer Nash

#3: Joel Tickner

#4: Robert A. Rio

#5: Q&A

Readings:

Speaker Bios:

Joel Tickner is Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Lowell where he is also a Principal Investigator at the Lowell Center for Sustainable Production. His training is in toxics chemicals policy, epidemiology, risk assessment, and pollution prevention. He has served as an advisor and researcher for several government agencies, non-profit environmental groups and trade unions both in the U.S. and abroad during the past ten years. He was co-coordinator of the Wingspread Conference on the Precautionary Principle, co-editor of the book Protecting Public Health and the Environment: Implementing the Precautionary Principle and editor of the book Precaution, Environmental Science, and Preventive Public Policy. He has authored or directed numerous reports and articles documenting the need and vision of sustainable chemicals management policy in the United States. Dr. Tickner has presented and published for several years on the topics of pollution prevention, risk assessment, toxic chemicals policy, and uncertainty and the precautionary principle. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana and a Doctor of Science Degree from the Department of Work Environment at University of Massachusetts Lowell. For three years, he was honored as an Environmental Protection Agency STAR Fellow. The University of Massachusetts awarded him the President’s Award for public service in 2005.

Robert A. Rio is Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for Associated Industries of Massachusetts – the state’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan association of Massachusetts’ employers. With more than 7,000 members who employ nearly one out of every five workers in Massachusetts, AIM’s mission is to promote the well-being of its members and the prosperity of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by improving the economic climate, proactively advocating fair and equitable public policy, and providing relevant, reliable information and excellent services. Since 1997, Mr. Rio’s advocacy work on behalf of the organization’s 7,000 member companies includes environmental, health and safety issues, as well as issues pertaining to public safety (steam boilers, hoisting, forklifts, above ground storage tanks). Mr. Rio’s work includes both regulatory and legislative efforts. Mr. Rio has appeared on behalf of AIM in regulatory matters concerning the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Public Safety, and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. He also represents AIM as a member of several ongoing advisory groups within the Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies, including regulatory reform committees that have made regulations easier to comply with and less burdensome to industry. Mr. Rio received an undergraduate degree from Boston University, a master’s degree from Northeastern University, and his law degree from Suffolk University in 1994.

Jennifer Nash is a Senior Research Associate at Northeastern University’s Nanotechnology and Society Research Group where she studies regulation of emerging technologies. She is also Executive Director of the Harvard Kennedy School Regulatory Policy Program and Associate Director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. Before joining Northeastern, she was Director of Policy and Programs at the Product Stewardship Institute and Executive Director of the Harvard Kennedy School Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative. She is a member of the American Chemistry Council’s advisory panel on Responsible Care and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. She co-edited two books on environmental policy innovation, Leveraging the Private Sector (2006) and Regulating from the Inside (2001) and has published in journals such as Administrative Law Review; Annual Review of Energy and the Environment; Business, Strategy, and the Environment; California Management Review; Chemistry Business Magazine; Ecology Law Quarterly; Environment; Environmental Law Reporter; Environmental Science and Technology; Issues in Science and Technology; Pollution Prevention Review; and Resources, Conservation, and Recycling.

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