George M. Hornberger, director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment, attended the annual summer event for federal appointees at the White House June 5.
Hornberger serves as a member of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, and help evaluate Department of Energy activities related to implementing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and provided expert advice on nuclear waste management to Congress and the Secretary of Energy. Hornberger received his presidential appointment in 2004.
President Obama and the First Lady invited all presidential appointees to the South Lawn event in appreciation for their service to the country.
Hornberger, also the Craig E. Philip Professor of Engineering and a University Distinguished Professor of civil and environmental engineering, attended the event with his wife, Joan.
The NWTR Board is composed of 11 members who serve on a part-time basis. Board members are appointed by the president from a list of candidates submitted by the National Academy of Sciences. By law, nominees to the Board are selected solely on the basis of distinguished professional service and are eminent in a field of science or engineering, including environmental sciences. Board members are appointed to a four-year term, with reappointment for a second four-year term possible.
Hornberger’s research is aimed at understanding complex water-energy-climate interrelationships and at how hydrological processes affect the transport of dissolved and suspended constituents through catchments and aquifers. He is an ISI “Highly Cited Researcher” in environmental sciences and engineering, a recognition given to the top 250 individual researchers in each of 21 subject categories.