2007 Nobel Peace Prize connects with UND climate scientist University professor Andrei Kirilenko was touched Friday by Nobel glory as the Swedish Academy awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize jointly to former Vice President Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Gore and the UN panel won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to spread awareness about, and stimulate counteraction to, human impacts on global climate and the environment. For Kirilenko, a key author of this year’s widely watched IPCC report on climate change, today's Nobel announcement is a particularly significant recognition of his lifelong scientific interest and research. “I never expected that the 19 years of the IPCC efforts in documenting the evidence of climate change would be acknowledged with the Nobel prize,” says Kirilenko, who is regularly consulted about climate change and its impacts on the environment. “I feel very proud to be a part of the activities that led to the award.” Kirilenko notes that several thousand scientists like himself over the years have volunteered time, talent, and energy to review, integrate, and disseminate the entire spectrum of existing scientific literature on climate change, the impacts of these changes on humans and environment, and the ways of adaptation to the changed climate and mitigation of negative effects. “Yet the scientific knowledge means little without of public awareness,” says Kirilenko, who is a professor in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences Department of Earth System Science and Policy. “I admire Al Gore’s efforts in bringing the science to a global audience. And I hope that my grandchildren will not blame my generation for our stupidity of spending nature's capital while leaving the payments to them.” The IPCC groups 2,500 researchers from more than 130 nations and issued reports this year blaming human activities for climate changes ranging from more heat waves to floods. It was set up in 1988 by the United Nations to help guide governments in crafting policies to combat climate change. For more information contact Andrei Kirilenko, associate professor, Earth System Science and Policy, 777-6761, (765) 430-1095 (cell), andrei.kirilenko@und.edu.