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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Biologist, city council member and clean energy advocate David Rollo heads to Washington for White House conference

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 21, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- David Rollo, an Indiana University Bloomington biologist and Bloomington city council member, has been invited to Washington, D.C., to participate in a U.S. Department of Commerce forum on energy.

The "Clean Energy Economy Forums" panel includes Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere Jane Lubchenco, among others. The two-hour forum begins at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White House.

"This is an opportunity to talk to people who are planning policy and learn more about what their aims are," Rollo said. "Of all the research currently taking place in clean energy, I'm very interested in learning about the spectrum of projects government plans to support."

For many years, Rollo has been a strong advocate for alternative approaches to both energy consumption and production in the United States. His current research in IU Bloomington biologist David Kehoe's laboratory is funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and focuses on developing methods to use photosynthetic bacteria for the conversion of solar energy into hydrogen fuel through a non-polluting process.

Rollo was invited to the conference because of his informal advisorship to U.S. Rep. Baron Hill, a Democrat who has been working to reform American energy policy.

"This is all exciting," Rollo said. "I am really looking forward to meeting people who are working on similar systems and problems."

To speak with Rollo, please contact David Bricker, University Communications, at 812-856-9035 or brickerd@indiana.edu.

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