FPN02-11

Orbach Becomes DOE Science Chief

March 20, 2002

On March 14, Dr. Raymond Orbach, Chancellor of the University of California at Riverside since 1992, was sworn in as Director, Office of Science, at the US Department of Energy. Orbach will oversee a $3.3 billion budget, which includes research programs in fusion energy, high energy, nuclear, computational, biological and basic energy sciences. The Office of Science also manages ten of the DOE's national laboratories and operates several large "user facilities." As Director, Orbach also serves as the science advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Spencer Abraham, and is vice chair of the DOE's Research and Development Council. Dr. James Decker has served as Acting and Interim Director for the past year, following the departure of Dr. Mildred Dresselhaus of MIT.

Secretary Abraham said, "Ray's over three decades experience as a practicing scientist and his demonstrated leadership skills as an administrator who led a major university campus will serve the department well."

Orbach is a theoretical physicist who received his BS from the California Institute of Technology and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. He joined the University of California system in 1963 and became a full professor in 1966. He is a member of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics and a Fellow of the American Physical Society.