Obama announces more key DOE nominations

WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Thursday, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate two people to key administration posts in the U.S. Department of Energy.

The two nominees are Madelyn Creedon for principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, a separate DOE agency, and Ellen D. Williams for director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.

“I am grateful these accomplished individuals have agreed to join this administration, and I’m confident they will serve ably in these important roles,” Obama said. “I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”

Here is more information about the two candidates:

Madelyn Creedon

Madelyn Creedon is the assistant secretary of defense for global strategic affairs, a position she has held since 2011. From 2001 to 2011, Creedon was counsel for the Democratic staff on the U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services and was responsible for the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces as well as threat reduction and nuclear nonproliferation issues. From 2000 to 2001, she served as the deputy administrator for defense programs at the National Nuclear Security Administration, and from 1997 to 2000, she was counsel on the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Creedon was the associate deputy Secretary of Energy from 1995 to 1997 and served as the general counsel for the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission from 1994 to 1995. From 1990 to 1994, Creedon was counsel for the Senate Committee on Armed Services. Prior to this, from 1980 to 1990, she was a trial attorney and acting assistant general counsel for special litigation in the Office of the General Counsel at the Department of Energy. Creedon received a B.A. from the University of Evansville and a J.D. from St. Louis University School of Law.

Ellen D. Williams

Ellen D. Williams is the chief scientist for BP, a position she has held since 2010. She is currently on a leave of absence from the University of Maryland, where she has served as a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Physics and the Institute for Physical Science and Technology since 2000. Williams has served as a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland since 1991. She founded the University of Maryland Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and served as its Director from 1996 through 2009. Williams received a B.S. in chemistry from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.