Bigelow Laboratory will begin its 2012 summer Café Scientifique series at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 10 with a talk by guest speaker Kathy Jacobs, Director of the National Climate Assessment and Assistant Director for Climate Assessment and Adaptation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Her talk, titled The National Climate Assessment: First, the Good News, is at 6 p.m. on the main floor of the Boothbay Harbor Opera House, 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. It is the first of nine Café Scientifique events scheduled this summer.

As director of the National Climate Assessment, Jacobs works with thirteen federal agencies and hundreds of scientists and resource managers to evaluate the impacts of climate change on all of the regions and sectors in the United States. She also is the lead water science and climate adaptation expert in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. She recently chaired a National Research Council panel on climate change adaptation within the America’s Climate Choices Project, and has served on six other Academy committees. Prior to joining the OSTP, Jacobs was the Executive Director of the Arizona Water Institute, a consortium of three state universities focused on water-related research, education, and technology transfer in support of water supply sustainability.

“The National Climate Assessment is a major effort to evaluate impacts as well as opportunities associated with managing the risks connected with climate change in the United States,” Jacobs said. “I’m part of a team of individuals and organizations working to develop a national climate change adaptation strategy.”

She has 23 years of experience as a water manager for the state of Arizona, including 14 years as director of the Tucson Active Management Area. She holds a master’s degree in environmental planning from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a member of the faculty of the Department of Soils, Water, and Environmental Science at the University of Arizona.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, non-profit center for global ocean research, ocean science education, and technology transfer. A recognized leader in Maine's emerging innovation economy, the Laboratory’s research ranges from microbial oceanography to the large-scale biogeochemical processes that drive ocean ecosystems and global environmental conditions. The Laboratory’s Café Scientifique talks are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2012 summer Café Scientifique program is available on the Laboratory’s website.