Bioengineering professor and QB3 faculty affiliate Adam Arkin explains his work on bioremediation to Senator Barbara Boxer during her visit to Stanley Hall research labs. (Peg Skorpinski photo)

Senator Barbara Boxer praises UC Berkeley's green energy research

07 October 2008

Senator Barbara Boxer toured UC Berkeley's California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) on Monday, Oct. 6 and applauded the campus for taking a lead in green energy research as part of a wider effort to "free our country from foreign oil."

"A lot of that work is happening right here in this building," she told more than 150 students at a peace and conflict studies class in Stanley Hall, the campus's newly built multidisciplinary biosciences research facility, which houses QB3 laboratories, after her tour.

In her address to students and local news media, Boxer (D-California) promoted the development of biofuels as a bright light in the financial crisis: "If ever there was a time to engage in this idea of a green revolution, it is now because we are in an economic downturn," she said.

She told students not to give up hope, even in the face of America’s shaky financial future: "Times are very dark," she said, "but I think the future is bright if we have that kind of leadership that says we’re not afraid."