BREAKING NEWS: President-elect Obama to name physicist Steven Chu as energy secretary

[IDemo]

Source: MSNBC

Obama will name Steven Chu his choice for Energy Secretary, Lisa Jackson for EPA administrator and Carol Browner as energy "czar" reporting to the President.

It is unclear whether the Browner position is cabinet level.






Read more: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com /

---

--from Wiki: As global warming warnings grow more dire, Chu is currently pushing his scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and industry to develop technologies to reverse climate change. Chief in Chu's campaign is an unprecedented research pact reached between UC Berkeley, oil industry giant BP, the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and the University of Illinois.

[Thrill]

1. Great News. Thats exciting

[earcandle]

64. YEA! The Auto Industry got their government loans!

YEA! The Auto Industry got their government loans!

No payments to stock holders until loan is paid off.
No bonuses or parachutes for any top 25 executives.
Must submit plan of viability asap.
Feds own 20% of non controlling non voting stock.
etc.

This is such a relief and gives me hope.

I am a contractor, and I have no benefits and the CPA's have hired peeps
to do what I do for ridiculously low wages, which I am finally prepared to take, but
I have been independent for so long, and so used to serving the owners, that somehow I
intimidate the older folks with my ability to be independent and direct as a practice.

Hey, if anyone can help, I am well educated, have good references, and keep my word.
My creditors are soon going to suffer my bankruptcy if I cannot get a job or some
clients. Don't need many.

I can turn raw data into reliable financial statements online or by Fedex, or your office or my home office if you are local, and produce liquidity, profitability, solvency ratios, and all kinds of excel analysis, with enough skills to work in Access but needing practice with some smart people. I learn fast.

I can also shoot mini dv and edit with effects, titles, transitions, adding other compatible media made in Adobe Creative Suite. And I can also make music with my husband, our singer, songwriter composer, instrumentalist and Audio Director, all performed and recorded in our kitchen now, but used to be in our garage studio, along with our washer and dryer. Thank goodness the new apt, which we love, has both in the garage, so no big deal. It feels like NYC rather than SF in our new home. He has a job, thank goodness, for 8 years and they seem to finally value him. He is a Business Analyst II. I am Staff Accountant, produce financials, Schedule C, 1040, 1099, sales taxes, property taxes, not corp taxes. Can interact intelligently with CPA and other professionals about your needs, and post journal entries, general ledgers, print financials including cash flows. Manual or computerized.

Wow... sorry, I didn't mean to spill out all of my beans, but I guess at this point I have so few left, what the hell. This might get me somewhere. I did just have a 2nd interview that I thought went well as an 1823 Admin Analyst with our MTA, but no word. That pays well. My State Farm Agent is going to interview me at entry pay, but hey, I know she is friendly and won't think I am "too big for my britches". So, I sell insurance? Looks like AIG got invested in and didn't fail, so insurance seems pretty important. Maybe that is the answer. I can sell. I'm professional and cute. Send me a email and I will send you my links with references and credentials, and my video portfolio.

But I sure can relate to those auto workers. I feared how the repugs could finally have their wet dream if the auto industry collapsed. They'd get to use their "(color) alert" security forces to control of all of the chaos that would ensue.

Thank Gopod, if there is one, it passed.

How are you all doing? I am sure Obama's picks are good.
Did I just commit a major faux pas by sharing my woe? Break a rule?
Let me know so I don't do it again.
Thanks

[JDPriestly]

76. You are OK earpod. Sorry to hear you are having so much trouble.

You are in the same boat as a lot of people. Keep courage. Welcome to DU.

[Mass]

2. Nobel Prize. At least Obama's picks are competent.

I do not know enough about his views on energy to know where he stands, but, at least, he should be able to understand what he is talking about: a clear progress.

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/19...

[YvonneCa]

3. Science appears to be...

...*in* again. And intelligence, as well.

[prostock69]

22. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!

Thank goodness!!!!! Intelligence, Reason, Rational Thinking!!!! Just what this country needs in our government!!!!!

[YvonneCa]

31. It's been a heck of a long eight years! n/t

[not fooled]

84. End of the Dark Ages

Our very own little Dark Ages



Who woulda thunk it when * took office???

[YvonneCa]

87. Sadly, a lot of people did. n/t

[ColbertWatcher]

40. It's great, itsn't it!? n/t

[MBS]

69. ON MTP this past Sunday, Obama said he was hoping to

have science lectures in the White House. Aahh. . that is a breath of fresh, intellectually curious air.

[YvonneCa]

90. I heard that. :) And I just won't know what...

...to do with 'fresh, intellectually curious air' after all these years!

[wtmusic]

4. Wow. Just wow.

A physicist in government. Pinch me.

[mrs_p]

5. great news

we need scientists to help shape policy on scientific matters. no more bush-shit political hacks.

[Odin2005]

6. YAY!!!

A scientist in the Cabinet?!?

[kirby]

7. Gesundheit! n/t

[ACTION BASTARD]

8. SCIENCE!

The adults will be back in charge soon.

[davidwparker]

9. What does a physicist know about energy?

[Bigmack]

27. I just sent those

EXACT words to my astrophysicist friend! Great minds run in the same circles I guess!!!! Ms Bigmack

[quidam56]

10. Appalachia is turning into a toxic waste dump third world America

Wise County, Virginia http://www.wisecountyissues.com is Third World USA

[GliderGuider]

13. Would you mind stopping this? We get it already.

Thank you.

[Duppers]

48. Uh?

Perhaps I don't read enough threads, but this is the first time I've heard this. And perhaps this thread was not the place to repeat it, but I'm glad it was posted it.

We all have our 'pet' issues. As you would know, there's not an issue more important than the environment.


And this is a energy issue.

[rurallib]

58. Agreed - the devastation to Appalachia can't be brought up enough

it should be criminal.

[Duppers]

66. Indeed!

thanks.

[Nihil]

85. FYI

> Perhaps I don't read enough threads, but this is the first time
> I've heard this.

If that's the case then you are indeed fortunate.

Most (probably > 300 of his 336) of quidam's entries on DU have
been a cut & paste of the above (or effectively so).

> We all have our 'pet' issues. As you would know, there's not an issue
> more important than the environment.

If you'd browsed in E/E over the last month or so I guarantee you would
have seen this stuff before. I think the preceding poster is just fed up
of coming across this trivial pasted comment on so many threads.

Yes, it is a problem.
No, it does not need to be spammed in this way.

HTH.

[w4rma]

11. Awesome. (nt)

[Hekate]

12. Isn't this the first time an actual SCIENTIST was tapped for that post?!

I love Obama. He's putting together a team of (to borrow a phrase) the best and the brightest.

Hekate

[caraher]

20. If you don't count engineers, yes.

I've met Steve Chu - he and my advisor studied together under the same advisor at Berkeley. I met him at a lunch he had with grad students at my school shortly after winning the Nobel Prize. I wouldn't read anything deep into that interaction... a smart guy with both feet on the ground (a quality sometimes not found in scientists) was the overall impression.

[zelta gaisma]

55. ROTFLMAO!! i was thinking the same thing!!

[Duppers]

61. Yes, with one exception..

Even Bill Clinton did not appoint a Sec of Energy with a scientific background (but GORE would have)!

The current rethug Sec. of Energy, Samuel Bodman, "completed his Sc.D. in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). For the next six years he served as an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT and began his work in the financial sector as Technical Director of the American Research and Development Corporation, a venture capital firm....he was named President and Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Investments and a Director of the Fidelity Group of Mutual Funds."


Venture capital firm = corporatism = money before environment

Proving that not all scientists are good and can be lured by the darkside.

[WheelWalker]

79. This was announced

just a day after meeting with Al, wasn't it? There are no accidents. That's physics. Or is it? Or was it? I'm stupified, as expected.

[Duppers]

80. yep, he got Al's input

before the announcement.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

14. Enough already with the competence

[progressoid]

15. What the ???

Everbody noes that Jebus is in charge of energy. How come he dint apoint a Reverand to do this?

[eridani]

16. The war on science is OVER!!

[prostock69]

23. Yessss!!! as stated above!!! :)

[Hope And Change]

17. K & R!

[Dudley_DUright]

18. Steve Chu is a great choice

I had the pleasure of meeting him once at a physics conference in Atlanta. He is brilliant, dedicated, and an inspirational leader in the physics community. I am so happy to see him take on a the top spot in the Department of Energy. As a one time researcher at one of the DOE national labs, I can predict this choice will do wonders for morale there. His focus on renewable energy and energy conservation is just what we need to combat global climate change.

[clear eye]

29. Is he oriented more toward renewables than nuclear? n/t

[Dudley_DUright]

30. very much so

From a Think Progress article on Chu:

Numerous media outlets are reporting Dr. Steven Chu will be President-elect Obama’s choice to head the Department of Energy. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California where he has been addressing the climate crisis by pushing breakthrough research in energy efficiency, solar energy, and biofuels technology.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/10/chu-energy-secretar... /

Make sure to watch the video at the link. It is really great.

[defendandprotect]

57. Encouraging report ... Good News!!

[NightHawk63]

19. I love it!!

This is just wonderful. I didn't think I could be any prouder of having voted for Obama.

[disndat]

56. Ditto!

Amazing! Obama is living up to the tremendous expectation with this appointment and others.

[bananas]

21. The Nobel Prize in Physics 1997

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/19... /

[pjt7]

26. Chu sounds like a great selection

Lisa Jackson for EPA has me worried, I think she is more of a politcal animal, rather than a science or enviromental person.

Christie Whitman disgraced America by being a pawn in the covering up of deadly airs after 9.11.. Is Jackson another NJ let-down?

[RollWithIt]

41. You have a common theme in your logic, you pick one monent in time...

And brand a person for life. I think the President Elect looks at their overall careers and makes a judgment call on what they bring to the table. It's hard to find anyone who has never made any kind of mistake in their entire careers.

[HopeHoops]

24. What is WITH this Obama guy surrounding himself with SMART people???

I mean, hasn't he heard of backroom sleazy payback politics? Good Grief!

[liberal N proud]

25. What? No oil man?

What will the oil companies do?

[Auggie]

35. They must shitting themselves

[rurallib]

60. Cheney's probably trying to figure out how he can veto it.

[4lbs]

28. From a related article, Chu has been deeply involved in solar and alternative fuel sources

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28164113


<snip>

Chu was one of three scientists who shared the Nobel Prize for physics in 1997 for work in cooling and trapping atoms with laser light. He's a professor of physics and molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming. It is the oldest of the Energy Department's national laboratories, doing only unclassified work, and in recent years under Chu has been at the center of research into biofuels and solar technologies.

<snip>

[damntexdem]

32. What, a scientist at Energy?

How unprecedented!

[northernlights]

33. WHAT?!11!?!! Not SARAH?!?11?

Doesn't he know Sarah Palin is an energy expert?!?! I mean, she even offered to offer her expertise to him!!!11!

Seriously, that is FABULOUS news. And it is about effing time we had people who actually seriously knowledgable, well-versed, competent and dedicated to the field, as opposed to some political hack!

[eridani]

37. Maybe she could be in charge of collective ownership of energy resources

Would that be bipartisan, or what?

www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/11/03/081103taco_ta...

One of the reasons Palin has been a popular governor is that she added an extra twelve hundred dollars to this year’s check, bringing the per-person total to $3,269. A few weeks before she was nominated for Vice-President, she told a visiting journalist—Philip Gourevitch, of this magazine—that “we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.” Perhaps there is some meaningful distinction between spreading the wealth and sharing it (“collectively,” no less), but finding it would require the analytic skills of Karl the Marxist.

[IDemo]

39. Here's an energy program I'm sure she would be glad to stand behind

Or, stand in front of...http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1...

[ColbertWatcher]

42. I'm sure she's busy selling Steven's Senatee seat. n/t

[meow2u3]

34. WRG, PE Obama! Kick the wolves out of the pastures

and replace them with border collies, so to speak. They'll take care of the sheep and scare the wolves away.

[Sabriel]

36. I was expecting a 24-year-old College Republican for this position

Sorry, I must be thinking of the last administration.

Can I just say how GREAT it is that there will be competent people in the right positions? Weird.

[stillcool]

38. Is he from Texas?

I read that all energy secretaries had to come from Texas.

[ColbertWatcher]

43. LOL! Wikip*dia says he was born in Missouri and went to *gasp* Berkeley! n/t

[stillcool]

46. I guess Blago's Deputy Governor A...

had it all wrong.

[kentauros]

81. There is another famous Chu associated with us here in Texas:

Paul Chu formerly of the University of Houston and one of the discoverers of high-temperature superconductors in 1987

So, if you are talking about "energy" to include "high- and low-energy physics" then Texas is your state for that, too

[saracat]

44. I would have like RFK JR. for EPA. No one deserves it more.

[cali]

45. Kennedy would have a hell of a hard time getting confirmed

His position on vaccines and autism and his heroin possession conviction are real obstacles.

[saracat]

49. A lot os folks don't believe in vaccines and many believe that autism is caused by them.

It is not an unusual stand . And as for the drug conviction, it was years ago(1983) and it has hasn't even prevented him from practicing law.

If we can elect presidents who admit to drug use in the past, and nearly all our presidential candidates admitted to some form of drug use in their pasts, I don't see where Kennedy's record is any kind of a stumbling block. And we do allegedly have the majority in the Senate.

So the question is who these would be obstacles to? Fellow Dems?

He is just about the best person on the environment we have, and he did say he would serve if asked.

I stand by my contention he would be the best choice.

[cali]

52. The scientific community almost universally rejects the vaccine

autism link. And EPA is a post where science is vital. And sorry, it doesn't matter that a small minority of the general public believes that link exists.

And it wasn't just drug use. He was a heroin addict and his felony conviction wasn't for a few grams of the shit either.

And he's hardly the best person for the post.

[saracat]

53. Whatever. I admire him a great deal.And as I said, he can still practice law, which says a lot.

He did his community service and it is reallt disgusting that after all this time, that is held against him by anyone.

[Codeine]

99. His drug use pales next to his anti-science agenda. nt

[Zhade]

59. Yeah, well, a lot of people believe in angels and alien abductions, too.

NT!

[InvisibleTouch]

68. I would have liked him too, but...

...I'm very happy with these choices. From what I'm reading, we're getting great people who actually care about the planet and are looking for solutions.

[Hanse]

82. In a thread about an actual scientist getting an important position...

it's rather ironic to see a post about an anti-science kook like Kennedy hypothetically getting a job which requires critical thinking.

[electron_blue]

86. well said.

I like the idea of Kennedy's support behind several important issues, but not any scientific ones.

[tinrobot]

47. Fantastic pick - he understands energy is a lot more than oil.

He's spent years working on alternative energy at UC Berkeley and also understands climate change. He's worked a lot with Al Gore.

If anyone can get us off of oil and on to sustainable energy, he will.

[TheDebbieDee]

50. The smartest MFer in the country.........

has picked someone just as smart to run the Department of Energy.

If someone comes up with a way to turn water into an energy source for the combustible engine, I'm sure he will let everyone know about it!

YES!

[scytherius]

51. My god. Smart people in the Executive Branch? I may faint. Awesome. n/t

nt

[Sarah Ibarruri]

54. No cronies, no FRATHOUSE pals, no corporate CEO budz.

It's a shock to my system to see Nobel Laureates, preeminent in their fields, be nominated to areas where they can put their expertise to use. I am overwhelmed and I'm not kidding.

[FloridaJudy]

62. Wow. A *real* expert!

Someone who's earned the respect of the scientific community. A Nobel laureate.

What a refreshing change!

[Dukkha]

63. someone who's NOT a Global Warming denying rapture freak?

for the first time in a long time science and facts are in the White House

[greenman3610]

65. video of Chu talking about energy/climate

a few years old, but revealing.
quick mind, practical, gets it.

http://webcast.berkeley.edu/event_details.php?webcastid...

[osaMABUSh]

67. Sounds like AL Gore had some input on this selection

based on Chu's global warming scientific experience

[WheelWalker]

83. That's my read, too. I understood

that Al called the meet this week. Is that your understanding?

[entanglement]

70. FR reactions: "Quota hire", "Berkelely nut", "over-educated mad scientist"

Those are the milder ones, by the way.

[YvonneCa]

88. They really do have a bias against anyone who...

...is educated (especially at certain schools) or rich. It's a bias...as racism is a bias...that needs to be exposed and not tolerated.

[Posteritatis]

94. The discussion in one thread about his name is nuts

There's a couple of people really passionately arguing that he's an existential threat because he doesn't have an English surname. They know he's an American born and raised, but he's got the wrong surname and that makes him a likely traitor. Even for FR it's nuts.

It's nice to see that they're continuing to drop the pretenses and just letting their bigot flags fly, though.

[nam78_two]

97. Pathetic

"Quota hire"
"over-educated mad scientist" .

[pinto]

71. Great pick. I read that his recent focus has been on biofuel and solar technology.

[MBS]

72. nice interview from 2005

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/10/03_chu....

[Tess49]

73. Good news. Obama picks the best. Certainly several steps

above anyone in the Bush administration.  I remember when they
appointed a veterinarian (Norris Alderson) to oversee the
office of women's health in the FDA. I'm still pissed off
over that. 

[sofa king]

74. He seems to know how to turn in a budget, too.

[Gman]

75. OMG! A real scientist!

How quaint! How nostalgic! Fundie heads will explode.

It will be nice to have someone that doesn't think the Grand Canyon was formed by the Great Flood of Noah.

[YvonneCa]

91. ...

... Thanks for the smile.

[NBachers]

77. Oh No! Another Brainiac! Run! Run!

So do you wanna hava pisswater beer with some geesuss rapchure deviate and Tammy Faye Bakker, or would you rather drink synthohol on the holodeck with Steven Chu and Marina Sirtis?

I just read this, and it brought tears to my eyes. I feel like my world is coming back to me. It's like I've been gone for a long time . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/10/steven-chu-ene...

[JDPriestly]

78. Best appointments yet.

[nam78_two]

89. Dr.Chu is simply brilliant

(Well I guess that goes without saying when you have a Nobel in Physics ). Some of the techniques he has developed like optical trapping have revolutionised many areas of biotechnology.

K&R

[Dudley_DUright]

92. Can I borrow your optical tweezers?

I have to pluck some DNA from my eyebrows.

Here is a good link describing how optical tweezers work (note that Steve Chu is the group leader author of the seminal paper that first demonstrated optical tweezers).

http://www.stanford.edu/group/blocklab/Optical%20Tweeze...

[nam78_two]

93. You work with optical traps ?

Thats awesome !

Yup I am very familiar with optical tweezers-made up a significant part of my doctoral thesis in fact .

[Dudley_DUright]

95. No, but I teach optics and so know something about them

I mostly use atomic force microscopy in my research.

[nam78_two]

96. I have always wanted to work with an AFM system

You can transduce much higher forces with AFM than you can with tweezers can't you? Tweezers are certainly a big step up from micropipettes if you ask me. I hated working with those things.

But tweezers are way cool. Check this out if you have never seen it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCdnBmQZ6_s

Pretty nifty huh? Tetris with tweezers :0)!

[Dudley_DUright]

101. That video is amazing

Some graduate student had way too much time on their hands.

[nam78_two]

98. Actually come to think of it, didn't Steve Block have some role in the Clinton administration?

I forget what though...Now there is a brilliant guy!

[KakistocracyHater]

100. hopefully nice

I want power grids to be as self-sufficient as possible, with something like giant circuit-breakers to halt "rolling blackouts" that only seemed common when electricity was privatized. Municipal-owned ONLY, because their only reason to exist is to provide power, unlike private-they only exist to make leaf lettuce, moolah, that 'in god we trust', i.e. money.

Local restaraunts should be required (& gov aided) to procure bio-diesel power generators, replace electric stoves & ovens with propane-powered ones, also replace refrigerators & freezers with propane power; those blackouts in NYC showed how crucial power supplies are to restaraunts & supermarkets, where the above also applies. They had to shut down, my way-they could stay open.

Front end gov subsidizing so 'green tech' isn't out of reach for the vast majority, pull all oil subsidies for awhile, show them where the real power is-the people who elect the government.