David A. Butler, Ph.D., is the J. Herbert Hollomon Scholar of the National Academy of Engineering. He is the founding director of NAE’s Cultural, Ethical, Social, and Environmental Responsibility [CESER] in Engineering program. His responsibilities also include leading National Academies studies related to engineering and environmental health topics, and representing the NAE on these topics on studies performed in other parts of the organization.

Before joining the National Academies, Dr. Butler served as an analyst for the U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, was a research associate in the Department of Environmental Health of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and conducted research at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. His professional career began as an engineer for Xerox Corporation. He has directed several National Academies studies on environmental health, risk assessment, and military and veterans health topics, including ones that produced Climate Change, the Indoor Environment, and Health; Damp Indoor Spaces and Health; Assessment of the Department of Veterans Affairs Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry; Respiratory Health Effects of Airborne Hazards Exposures in the Southwest Asia Theater of Military Operations; and multiple volumes of the Veterans and Agent Orange -series of reports. He is a frequent speaker on these topics in international forums.

Dr. Butler earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Rochester and his Ph.D. in public policy analysis from Carnegie Mellon University. He is a recipient of the National Academies’ Cecil Medal for Research.