There are no facts about the future, but strategic planning, foresight and forecasting are important tools for assessing policy, research and investment options to address global challenges.  As engines of economic development, social progress and innovation, science, engineering and technology are indispensable assets; their emerging and disruptive trends have been, and must continue to be, assessed with such tools.  The historical record for S&T foresight over many decades is mixed at best and, in the case of civilian nuclear power, systemically overly optimistic.  A checkered history underlies this record - a series of accidents, most notably, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima, major changes in regulation, lengthened construction schedules, associated cost escalation and public opposition - stifled deployment of a technology ushered into the 1950s as a panacea for electricity “too cheap to meter.”  Today, the global challenges framed by the new UN Sustainable Development Goals, including, inter alia, population growth, competition for food, water, energy and other natural resources, deterioration of the global commons, urbanization and climate change, demand foresight and reflection about the role of nuclear power in providing bulk sources of electricity into the long term.  China appears best poised for significant deployment of the option domestically and abroad.  But with its limited experience and fledgling regulatory culture, can China meet this challenge reliably and safely? 

Bio:

Following two years in the private sector, Mr. Reynolds, a career civil servant, has worked at the U.S. Department of Energy (15 years) and State Department (26) in a range of science, technology and engineering fields, related strategic planning, technology foresight and assessment, non-proliferation, export controls, cooperative research, and other areas of responsibility.  He served as DOE Representative for Western Europe at the US Mission to OECD in Paris from 1983-1986 where he was also engaged with the International Energy Agency, the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.  From 1996-2000, Mr. Reynolds served under a limited Foreign Service appointment as Science and Technology Counselor in the US Embassy in Rome. 

Before assuming his current position, Reynolds was Deputy and Chief of Staff in the Office of the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State from 2000-2011, where he supported four successive Advisers.  He led efforts to increase S&T and engineering personnel and literacy at State and the U.S. Agency for International Development, strengthen outreach to the U.S. and global S&T community, and foster mid- to long-term strategic planning at State, USAID and across the U.S. government, including the defense and intelligence communities.  Throughout his career, Mr. Reynolds has been a strong advocate for the seminal role of science and engineering in diplomacy, development and international relations.  He has received Meritorious and Superior Honor Awards for his service. 

In his current assignment as Senior Advisor for Space and Advanced Technologies, Office of International Communications and Information Policy, Bureau of Economic Affairs, Mr. Reynolds continues to focus on these strategic areas and, inter alia, the use of information and communications technologies and space assets for development; S&T and engineering for urbanization and resilient infrastructure; natural hazards mitigation and recovery; disruptive technologies; innovation, Internet governance and cybersecurity.  He also served as Chairman of the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development, in Geneva.

Mr. Reynolds earned a BA from the University of Virginia, combining pre-medical studies and international relations, and overseas study at the University of Copenhagen and Goethe Institute.  He earned MS degrees in engineering and applied science from George Washington University and strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University.  Mr. Reynolds speaks and reads Spanish, Italian, French, and some German.