For Under Secretary for Science and Energy, he has chosen Franklin M. (Lynn) Orr, Jr, who is currently the director of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University, where he is also a professor of petroleum engineering. He has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

For Director of the Office of Science (which includes the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences), he will nominate Mark Kasner, who is currently Dean of the School of Science at MIT, where he is also a professor of physics and a former chair of the physics department. He has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Chicago.

For Director of ARPA-E, he has picked Ellen Williams, who is currently Chief Scientist at BP oil company. She has been on leave from the University of Maryland since 2010 where she is a professor in the department of physics and the institute for physical science and technology. She has a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the California Institute of Technology.