Gene Whitney is Energy Research Manager for the Congressional Research Service at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Previously, he was Assistant Director for Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy in Washington, D.C. His work at OSTP focused on the science and technology policy aspects of earth sciences, natural hazards and disasters, energy, water, land remote sensing, environment, and natural resources. He served as Co-Chair of the US Group on Earth Observations and was OSTP liaison to the US Climate Change Science Program. He directed the Future of Land Imaging Interagency Working Group, and served as NSTC director for the Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction and the Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality. Dr. Whitney coordinated the Federal interagency science and technology portfolio for the United States in UNESCO. He served as a member of the Joint U.S.–Canada Task Force investigating the massive electrical blackout of August 14, 2003 in the northeastern U.S. and southern Canada, and worked with the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology on national energy efficiency policy. Prior to OSTP, Dr. Whitney was Chief Scientist for the USGS Energy Resources Team, where he managed the energy research and assessment group, conducting basic research on the eology, geochemistry, and geophysics of fossil fuels, conducting national and global assessments of oil, natural gas, and coal resources, and assessing availability and economics of fossil fuels. Dr. Whitney has a PhD degree in geology from the University of Illinois and has authored or co-authored numerous scientific papers and abstracts. He received an NRC postdoctoral fellowship at NASA/ JPL and was awarded a senior postdoctoral fellowship at Ecole Normale Superieur in Paris. His international experience includes working with the governments of China, Russia, Pakistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, and Japan on energy and mineral resource issues.