Biographical Statements: Speakers and Moderators          

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Dr. Harlan L. WATSON
Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative, U.S. Department of State

Dr. Harlan L. Watson Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street, N.W. Room 4330 20520 Washington DC USA Tel: +1 202 6473489 Fax: +1 202 647 3970 E-mail: watsonhl@state.gov URL:

Dr. Harlan L. Watson is Senior Climate Negotiator and Special Representative at the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, he served as alternate head of the U.S. delegations at the Seventh (COP-7), Eighth (COP-8), and Ninth (COP-9) Sessions of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Marrakech, Morocco, New Delhi, India, and Milan, Italy, respectively. Dr. Watson heads the National Security Council Policy Coordination Committee Working Group on Climate Change, and leads U.S. delegations to meetings of the Subsidiary Bodies of the Framework Convention and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

His previous government experience includes serving as Staff Director of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science's Subcommittee on Energy and Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, as Science Advisor to Secretary of the Interior, as Principal Deputy and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior for Water and Science, and as a professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs' Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation, and Federal Services. He also worked as a technical staff member at TRW Inc., as a project and senior scientist at B-K Dynamics, Inc., and as a postdoctoral appointee at Argonne National Laboratory. Dr. Watson earned a B.A. in physics from Western Illinois University, a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from Iowa State University, and an M.A. in Economics from Georgetown University.