Dr. David Babson is the Senior Advisor for Renewable Energy, Natural Resources, and the Environment in the Office of the Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. David is on detail from the Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) at the U.S. Department of Energy where he is a Technology Manager. David leads R&D coordination efforts on carbon utilization and management, climate adaptation, sustainability, agricultural systems innovation, bioenergy, and biotechnology. Previously he worked as a Senior Fuels Engineer at the Union of Concerned Scientists and an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. David completed post-docs at the University of Minnesota’s Biotechnology Institute and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. David has a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from Rutgers University and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.