FPN09-16

Koonin to be DOE Under Secretary for Science

March 21, 2009

The White House has announced its intention to nominate Dr. Steven E. Koonin to be Department of Energy Under Secretary for Science. Dr. Koonin has served as chief scientist of British Petroleum (BP), the world's second largest oil company, since 2004. As chief scientist, he has been responsible for BP's long-range technology plans and activities, particularly those "beyond petroleum." Previously he was at the California Institute of Technology, joining the university in 1975. He served as Provost there 1995-2004. He received his BS in Physics at Caltech and his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from MIT.

He has served on numerous advisory committees. He chaired a National Academy inertial confinement fusion program review in 1990. Among their recommendations was that the DOE should accelerate the construction of the KrF Nike laser at the Naval Research Laboratory and that the construction of the Omega laser at the University of Rochester should be "started immediately." The committee also criticized the DOE for its overly restrictive classification policy and called on Secretary of Energy James Watkins to "form a panel to review present ICF classification guidelines and to schedule future target physics declassification." Koonin gave the first public presentation of that report at Fusion Power Associates 1990 annual meeting. Koonin also served on the DOE's Inertial Confinement Fusion Advisory Committee (ICFAC) in the mid 1990's. He was the recipient of Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award in 1994 in recognition of the "major impact he has had on the programs and plans of the inertial confinement fusion program."