About Noriko

Dr. Noriko Hikosaka Behling’s Biography

Dr. Noriko Behling has served as a science and technology analyst for 30 years. She graduated from Tokyo University of Education in Japan and attended graduate courses as a Fulbright scholar at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Hawaii, where she also taught and conducted research in the field of linguistics. At the Central Intelligence Agency she analyzed S&T policy issues, focusing on the environmental impact of S&T developments. In 2002 and 2003 Dr. Behling played a central role in the formulation of the Bush Administration’s FreedomCar Initiative and the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative. After her career at CIA, she conducted research on environmental policies in the private sector. Her interest in protecting the environment led her to undertake a five-year research project that culminated in a book entitled “Fuel Cells: Current Technology Challenges and Future Research Needs” (Elsevier, the Netherlands, 2012). The book provides a detailed history of government, corporate, and research institutions’ fuel cell policies and programs, analyzes national strengths and weaknesses of R&D initiatives, levels of spending and investment, and evaluates overall robustness of the fuel cell industry. Dr. Behling highlights the need for a national project to support basic research activity dedicated to obtaining detailed knowledge of fuel cell electrochemical operations aimed at solving fuel cell challenges and ultimately attaining commercially viable fuel cell products—at the earliest opportunity.

She is married to Thomas Behling, former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.

Selected Publications:

1. Noriko Behling, “Overview of Current Global Fuel Cell R&D and Future Research Needs,” ECS Transactions, June 2013.

2. Noriko Behling, “Making Fuel Cells Work,” Issues in Science and Technology, the National Academy of Sciences, April 2013.

3. Noriko Behling, “Solving the Fuel Cell Dilemma,” Fuel Cell Bulletin, Elsevier, November 2012.

4. Noriko Behling, Fuel Cells: Current Technology Challenges and Future Research Needs, Elsevier, published October 2012 in Europe, December 2012 in the United States.

5. Noriko Behling, “Overview of Current Global Fuel Cell R&D and Future Research Needs,” Fuel Cell Seminar, November 2012.