THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Vice President

VICE PRESIDENT GORE NAMES FIRST GLOBE PROGRAM DIRECTORS

NASA, NOAA Scientists Named to Environmental Monitoring Project

WASHINGTON -- Vice President Al Gore today named two prominent government information and environmental scientists to head GLOBE, a first-of-its kind international project to coordinate the work of children, educators, and scientists in monitoring the global environment.

The program director is Thomas N. Pyke Jr., director for high performance computing and communications at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at the Department of Commerce. Pyke is a former chief of NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service, and has been a leader in this area.

The deputy director is Charles R. Chappell, associate director for science at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Marshall Space Flight Center. Chappell has created science education and outreach programs and has extensive experience studying how the changing sun affects the earth's environment. In recent years he has served in key NASA science management positions.

GLOBE, or Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment, will provide scientists with valuable information about our natural environment including information on weather, air chemistry and quality, geological measurements and ecology. This data will be gathered by young people and teachers from around the world following a curricula set by Pyke and Chappell, among other scientists and educators, to ensure that the experiments and data collected will be useful to scientists and educationally valuable. It will be developed and implemented domestically through public/private partnerships, and internationally through a collaborative effort among nations.

More than 60 nations have expressed interest in the GLOBE program since Gore announced its formation on April 22, Earth Day 1994.

NOTE: GLOBE's mailing address is 744 Jackson Place, The White House, Washington D.C. 20503; phone is 202-395-7600, fax is 202- 395-7611. The contact person at GLOBE is Hank Roden at 202-395- 7600.

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