The New Energy Secretary
Obama's pick for Secretary of Energy has been revealed to be Steve Chu. This is a bit of a surprise, first and foremost because the guy is actually a scientist. To my knowledge, scientists don't normally hold that post. However, given that as head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory he's been directing his scientists to develop technology to reduce the threat of climate change and global warming, Obama is sending a powerful message that he's taking these issues seriously. The Department of Energy controls the funding for the national labs as well as a huge amount of academic grants, so this is good news for those that want America do direct more scientific effort toward the problem.
What's more of a shock for me personally is that I currently occupy the offices and labspace that he used to use when he was at Stanford. He moved out a year and a half ago to go head up LBNL, my portion of the Zare lab moved in. It's not too significant, but I can't help but feel a little starstruck.
What's more of a shock for me personally is that I currently occupy the offices and labspace that he used to use when he was at Stanford. He moved out a year and a half ago to go head up LBNL, my portion of the Zare lab moved in. It's not too significant, but I can't help but feel a little starstruck.