As US readers have probably heard by now, Steve Chu has been selected by President-Elect Obama to be the new Secretary of Energy. I think that this is very good news. He's extremely smart, and he's been involved in pretty much the entire research enterprise, from his days at Bell Labs to running a research group at Stanford to serving as department chair to acting as director at LBL. He's been actively worrying about both basic and applied research and understands the actual energy demands of the country and the world. As the finance folks say, past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results, but this appointment gives me real cause for optimism. Steve Chu is extremely qualified for this.
Steve Chu? Oh my goodness. At least we know we'll be getting our money's worth out of the salaries paid to employees in Energy... :) I agree that, whatever personality flaws Steve Chu has (and there are a number), he is both driven and smart, so maybe this will be a revitalizing influence on American science. Though one wonders how well he'll suffer the egos of Congress and if he can check his own at the door.
ReplyDeleteWell let's hope he gets through his confirmation hearings... I think there are still very serious unresolved questions regarding his role in some missing colloquium donuts some years ago. Hopefully nothing embarrassing will crop up. But I'm sure the Obama vetting people have talked to all the right people. There is probably nothing to the all the rumors and innuedo...
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