Albert Carnesale

In 2009, Carnesale chaired a National Academies committee overseeing efforts to outline "America's Climate Choices" at the request of Congress. When the committee submitted their report, in 2011, Carnesale said, [Climate change] is an urgent problem to turn to, and what we've done differently is look at this as a risk management problem. We don't know exactly when the tsunami will hit or how high it will be, but we know it is coming, and we should prepare." In 2010 the U.S. Department of Energy appointed Carnesale to a high-level national commission on nuclear waste production, the 15-person Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. Carnesale said the issues before the commission related "not only to nuclear power and reduced dependence on fossil fuels but also to climate change and nuclear proliferation." In 2014, he was appointed to the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board. He also chaired the National Academies Committees on NASA's Strategic Direction, on Nuclear Forensics and on the U.S. Conventional Prompt Global Strike. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

When Carnesale announced that he was stepping down in 2006, he said he had missed teaching and policymaking and that his decision was prompted in part by current events. He said there were relatively few people working in national security who had Ph.D.s in fields like nuclear engineering. "If you're worried about nuclear proliferation and weapons of mass destruction and the like, and can bring that technical background as well as the policy background in international affairs and security . . . It's a comparative advantage that I have in an area that's terribly important to the country right now. When he stepped down, he took a year-long sabbatical and then resumed teaching in UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. In 2013, a new building in the residential portion of the UCLA campus was named Robin and Albert Carnesale Commons in honor of the chancellor emeritus and his wife. The building houses one of the nation's first health-themed dining halls, as well as a fitness hall and multipurpose space.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, Carnesale initiated a seminar program named for the university's motto, Fiat Lux, which means "Let there be light." The program of 200 seminars was established to help students understand the events of September 11. The seminars enabled small, interdisciplinary groups of students to explore critical issues with faculty. Carnesale taught a seminar on national security.

When Carnesale was appointed at UCLA, California's Proposition 209 had just gone into effect, forbidding all state institutions from giving preference in admissions based on race or ethnicity. Carnesale believed diversity was essential in order for UCLA to fulfill its responsibilities as a public university. He cited three reasons: 1) Diversity is essential for providing the best possible education because students learn from each other. 2) Diversity is necessary in order to prepare leaders for all segments of society—a charge of public universities. 3) Education is key to social and economic mobility. He said affirmative action is just one means of achieving diversity. "We can encourage minority students whose records make them eligible to apply, and then encourage those admitted to enroll. . . .We have to get more minorities eligible [so] we have to get more engaged in the high schools. . . . Equal opportunity should be a goal, an aspiration." In May 1998, 88 UCLA students were arrested for refusing to leave a building during a 12-hour non-violent protest, demanding that Carnesale defy Prop 209. He replied that while he supported diversity on campus, he could not ignore Prop 209. "I came to this university, knowing that Prop 209 would go into effect on my watch," he said. "I made the decision that it was important to do the best we could within the law, rather than stay at Harvard and not try."

On July 1, 1997, Carnesale was appointed chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, a position he held until June 30, 2006. Some of Carnesale's Harvard colleagues saw his departure as "a terrible loss." Some at both Harvard and UCLA were concerned about his ability to understand a large public university system. His response: "I have enormous interest in all things public. I spent nine years teaching at a public university. In between I was in government. I spent my academic years at Harvard in the areas of public policy and administration."

Carnesale arrived at UCLA when the UC system was facing soaring costs and sharp budget cuts. He said the university must remain affordable for all Californians. While chancellor, he wrote and spoke about the "public-private gap in higher education," presenting funding models that could potentially enable public institutions to "remain true to the basic values on which they were founded: excellence and access for qualified students, regardless of ability to pay." Throughout his tenure, Carnesale concentrated on attracting research funding and private gifts to sustain UCLA's trajectory toward the top tier of research universities in the face of declining state support. From 1997-2005, UCLA'a annual operating budget grew from $2.2 billion to $3.5 billion, while the state's portion shrank from 20.7 percent to 15 percent.

As chancellor, Carnesale oversaw the completion of a $3.1 billion fundraising campaign—at the time the most ambitious in the history of higher education. He also launched the California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI), the Broad Stem Cell Research Institute, the Nazarian Center for Israeli Studies, and the Institute for Society and Genetics. Under his leadership, research funding from competitively awarded grants and contracts doubled, and UCLA formed more than 100 partnerships through Carnesale's "UCLA in L.A." initiative. During this time, the university took major steps toward transformation from a commuter school to a residential campus. From 1997-2005, UCLA completed or had under construction new housing for more than 4,600 undergraduate and graduate students. Other additions to the campus included the UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center, Broad Art Center and new buildings for health sciences, physics, engineering, and CNSI. In addition, Glorya Kaufman Hall, Haines Hall, and the Humanities Building were renovated. Construction began on the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. UCLA Athletics added 23 NCAA titles.

Carnesale was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2008. In 2011 he received the Harvard Medal for service to the university. Also in 2011, he was elected to the Nation Academy of Engineering "for bringing engineering excellence and objectivity to international security and arms control, and for leadership in higher education." In 1997, he received an honorary doctor of letters degree from NCSU. He also holds honorary degrees from Harvard University (A.M.), New Jersey Institute of Technology (Sc.D.), Drexel University (LL.D.) and Pardee RAND Graduate School (D.P.P). In 1985, he received the Gano Dunn Award for Outstanding Professional Achievement from the Cooper Union.

Between 1977 and 1980, he led the U.S. delegation to the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE). This 66-nation multilateral meeting was intended to investigate and ultimately make recommendations regarding the relationships between civilian and military uses of nuclear energy and materials. In 1980 Carnesale was nominated by President Carter to be chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. However, Carter's term as president ended before the nomination was brought to a Senate vote. At the time of Carnesale's nomination, one of his Harvard colleagues said, "He's really perfect for the job. First, he's got a technical background--he's not a political appointee. At the same time, he can communicate complex technical issues in a way that is understandable to lay audiences." In 1995, President Clinton appointed Carnesale to the Scientific and Policy Advisory Committee of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.

Carnesale became a member of the Harvard faculty in 1974, and concentrating on the study of international relations, national security policy, and nuclear arms control. In 1981 he was became academic dean of the Harvard Kennedy School. A decade later, Carnesale became dean and was charged with restructuring the school, which faced a budget deficit, and served in that post from 1991-1995. According to a lecturer at the School, Carnesale was appointed "because by the force of his personality, his great sense of humor and his capacity for getting to the heart of things quickly, he defused tensions." When the New York Times announced the appointment, Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine described Carnesale as "an exceptional human being." At the time of Carnesale's appointment, the Kennedy School faced "a debate over its identity," as tension developed between faculty who were professional scholars and those who were practitioners. Carnesale said the solution lay in finding the right balance and respecting each other's contribution. In 1994, Carnesale was tapped to fill the role of university provost, where he served until 1997. In that position he coordinated the university's central administration and oversaw academic programs that extended beyond Harvard's individual schools. He was key to the university's $2.1 billion capital campaign and efforts to apply information technology to academic and administrative operations. He also was part of the campaign to draw together Harvard's nine different faculties. In November 1994, Carnesale was appointed acting president of Harvard while President Rudenstine was on leave. He served in that position for three months.

From 1969-72 Carnesale served as chief of the Defensive Weapons Systems Division, Science and Technology Bureau of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in Washington, D.C. From 1970-72, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) with the Soviet Union -- a major step towards controlling nuclear weapons.

Carnesale served on the nuclear engineering faculty at NCSU from 1962–69 and as professor and head of the Division of University Studies from 1972-74.

Albert Carnesale (born July 2, 1936) is an American academic and a specialist in arms control and national security. He is a former chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, provost of Harvard University, and dean of the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University. He was also acting president of Harvard while President Neil L. Rudenstine was on leave for three months. He has also been active in international diplomacy on nuclear arms control and nuclear non-proliferation. From 1970-72, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) with the Soviet Union—a major step towards controlling nuclear weapons. Carnesale teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at UCLA on topics relating to U.S. national security.

Carnesale was born on July 2, 1936, in the Bronx, New York. His father was a taxi driver; his mother was an office clerk. He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science, where admission is based solely on a competitive written exam. The first person in his family to attend college, he began his university education at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, completing a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1957. He received a master's degree in mechanical engineering at Drexel University in Philadelphia in 1961 and a PhD in nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU) in 1966. While earning his master's degree, Carnesale also worked as a senior engineer at Martin Marietta Corporation.