The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Informa Exhibitions have announced Neil deGrasse Tyson as the keynote speaker for its closing plenary at the 2017 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo. The closing plenary will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 10, at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center.

“Greenbuild has become the defining moment each year for the green building world to convene, and it’s a place where the future of our movement is shaped,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO of USGBC. “Dr. Tyson’s clarity and wit as a respected science expert will challenge and invigorate our community to address the many serious issues affecting the environment and our world today.”

Tyson is world-renowned astrophysicist and cosmologist whose professional research interests are broad, but include star formation, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, and the structure of the Milky Way. He was born and raised in New York City where he was educated in the public schools through his graduation from the Bronx High School of Science. Tyson went on to earn a degree in physics from Harvard and his PhD in astrophysics from Columbia. He is the recipient of 19 honorary doctorates and the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest award given by NASA to a non-government citizen. Tyson is also the fifth head of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and the first occupant of its Frederick P. Rose Directorship and he is a research associate of the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History.

For more information on Greenbuild 2017 and to register, go here.