President Barack Obama has nominated a physicist and director at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to serve as his next energy secretary.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Ernest J. Moniz would replace Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, as secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy. Chu announced Feb. 1 that he would not serve a second four-year term in the Obama administration.
Steven Chu
After serving one term, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced Friday morning that he will not serve a second four-year term in the Obama administration.
In an announcement posted on the U.S. Department of Energy website, Chu said he will continue to serve as secretary through the ARPA-E Summit at the end of February and may stay beyond that “so that I can leave the department in the hands of the new secretary.” ARPA-E stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy.
Chu said he would like to return to an academic life of teaching and research, and he informed President Barack Obama of his decision to return to California shortly after the Nov. 6 election.
