President-elect Obama Appoints a Real Scientist to Secretary of Energy
From Discover Magazine:
This is fantastic news. Steven Chu, director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics for his work in laser cooling of atoms, has been nominated to be the next Secretary of Energy in the Obama administration. (Thanks to Elliot in comments.) This post is enormously important for science in general and physics in particular, as the DOE is responsible for much of the funding in physics and a lot of other R&D work. It’s also, needless to say, a crucial position for determining the country’s energy policy at a time when strong and imaginative leadership in this area is crucial.
(I’m not sure who the author of this Discover blog is - please let me know if you can figure it out.)
Obama’s other nominees in the Department of Energy from Asian Straits Times:
Mr Obama has also decided to name three experienced policymakers and regulators to key environmental jobs, suggesting that the next US president plans a bold shift on climate and energy issues.
Ms Carol Browner, who was the administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former president Bill Clinton, will fill a position overseeing energy, environment and climate policies, newspapers reported, citing unnamed Democratic party officials.
She once served as legislative director for former vice-president and environmental advocate Al Gore when he was a member of the US Senate.
Ms Lisa Jackson, former head of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, will be named as head of the EPA. She would be the first African-American to lead the agency.
Ms Nancy Sutley, a deputy mayor of Los Angeles for Energy and Environment, will lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the reports said.
Read more:
From the Houston Chronicle
Former Bush EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman on Obama’s picks from MSNBC
From GlobalWarming.org
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