Welcome, from Jeff Schweitzer

Dr. Jeff Schweitzer is an internationally recognized authority in bridging science, conservation, development and ethics. He has been a guest speaker at dozens of international conferences in Asia, Russia, Europe and across the United States.

Dr. Schweitzer began his scientific career in the fields of marine biology and neurophysiology. He earned his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. His research focused on the evolution of sensory systems (hearing, sight, touch) with the goal of understanding how brains interpret the external world. Dr. Schweitzer chose to work with sharks because of their exquisite sensitivity to their environment. The results of that research, published in prestigious scientific journals, demonstrated that the structure and function of the brain has been amazingly conserved across time and species, further emphasizing the humble position of humankind on the evolutionary bush of life.

To pursue deeper aspects of brain function, Dr. Schweitzer joined the Center for Learning and Memory at the University of California, Irvine in 1984. There he explored fundamental principles of how we remember our world around us and within. His work contributed to the body of evidence proving that the adult brain continues to grow and renew itself, overturning decades of dogma.

While at U.C. Irvine, Dr. Schweitzer was selected in 1986 to participate in the prestigious Science, Engineering and Diplomacy Fellowship program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He accepted the nomination in support of the program’s goal of increasing the involvement and visibility of scientists and engineers in public policy. At fellowship’s end, instead of returning to academia, Dr. Schweitzer devoted himself fully to international science cooperation, pursuing such cooperation as a means of addressing the world’s most challenging problems, beyond the capacity of any one country to fund or coordinate.

Dr. Schweitzer has published more than 100 articles in an eclectic range of fields, including neurobiology, marine science, international development, environmental protection and aviation.

In 1991 Dr. Schweitzer was appointed as the Chief Environmental Officer at the State Department’s Agency for International Development, and from that global perch saw clearly the need to take a new approach to environmental conservation and economic development. Helping to overturn decades of polarized debate, he developed policies and pursued programs to demonstrate that improving the human condition and protecting the environment are one and the same challenge, not mutually incompatible goals. He conceptualized and founded the multi-agency International Cooperative Biodiversity Group Program, an innovative U.S. Government effort to promote the conservation of biodiversity through rational economic use of natural resources.

His innovative work on environment and conservation at the Department of State soon caught the attention of the White House; in1992 he was appointed to the position of Assistant Director for International Affairs in the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Dr. Schweitzer was responsible for providing scientific and technological policy advice and analysis for the President's Science Advisor and the Vice President, and to coordinate the U.S. government's international science and technology cooperation. He worked with the president's cabinet and 22 U.S. Government technical agencies, and with countries throughout the world, in a broad range of fields including biology, physics, chemistry, geophysics, agriculture, oceanography and marine sciences. He was instrumental in establishing the permanent Global Forum on Science and Technology at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development to promote greater international scientific collaboration.

During his tenure at the White House, Dr. Schweitzer realized that one critical element was missing from global efforts to bring science, conservation and development together; there was no appropriate ethical foundation providing a compelling mandate. Upon his retirement from government, Dr. Schweitzer devoted himself to the task of articulating and promoting such an ethic, a new way to ensure that humans can grow and prosper indefinitely in a healthy environment.

Dr. Schweitzer brings to his personal life the same dedication and commitment that energizes his professional life. He has published more than 100 articles in an eclectic range of fields, including neurobiology, marine science, international development, environmental protection and aviation. He and his wife Sally are avid SCUBA divers, traveling the globe for opportunities to see new wildlife, never far from their roots as marine scientists. Dr. Schweitzer is a devoted pilot who owns and operates his personal aircraft. That form of transportation provides him with the flexibility needed to meet his busy schedule as a guest speaker at professional societies and lay conferences across the country. He founded and edits Malibu Mirage, a successful aviation magazine dedicated to pilots flying complex, pressurized single-engine airplanes.