U.S. President-elect Barack Obama (L)
looks on as Steven Chu, director of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, speaks
after being introduced as Obama's Energy Secretary during a news
conference in Chicago, December 15, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Steven Chu, a
prominent Chinese American physicist, was named by U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama as the next Energy Secretary on Monday.
Obama announced the nomination of the Nobel-Prize
winner at a press conference in his transition office headquarters in Chicago,
Illinois, as he presented his energy and environment team members to the nation.
"They are leading experts and accomplished managers,"
Obama said of his team. "They are ready to reform government and help transform
our economy so that our people are more prosperous, our nation is more secure,
and our planet is protected."
Chu, currently head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab in California, was described by Obama as the one "who has been working at the cutting edge of our nation's efforts to develop new and cleaner forms of energy."
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama (L4) speaks at a press conference at his transition office headquarters in Chicago Dec. 15, 2008. Obama on Monday announced the nomination of Nobel-Prize winner Steven Chu, a prominent Chinese American physicist, at a press conference in Chicago, as he presented his energy and environment team members to the nation. (Xinhua/Hu Guangyao) Photo Gallery>>>
"Steven is uniquely suited to be our next secretary
of energy as we make this pursuit a guiding purpose of the Department of Energy,
as well as a national mission," he said of the energy secretary choice.
Obama also noted Chu's appointment sent a signal to
all that the U.S. government would value science and make decision based on the
facts.
Chu, born on Feb. 28, 1948, to a Chinese American family in Missouri, won his Nobel in 1997 with two other scientists for developing methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.
Since 2004, he has been running the Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in California, which is attached to the energy department,
and has a budget of 645 million dollars and a staff of 4,000.
If his nomination is approved by the Senate, Chu is
expected to lead Obama's agenda to create 2.5 million new jobs through "green"
and new technologies, and reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil supply.
"I look forward to being part of President-elect
Obama's team which believes we must repair the economy and put us on a path
forward towards sustainable energy," Chu said at the press conference.
He defined the role of the Department of Energy as "a major force in meeting the challenges" by supporting "energy research and development" that will lead to innovation in the private sector, to nurture broad-based scientific research that is essential for the country's future prosperity, and to provide scientific leadership to minimize the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons.
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama speaks during a news conference where he introduced his energy and environment team members to the nation in Chicago December 15, 2008. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Other key posts Obama announced to fill include Carol
Browner as the newly-created "climate czar" at the White House, Nancy Sutley as
chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, and Lisa Jackson
as head of the Environmental Protection Agency.
He said that nominees for the secretaries of the
interior, transportation and agriculture, who he said also play important roles
in energy and environment policies, would be announced in the days to come.
President-elect Barack Obama takes
questions from reporters during a news conference in Chicago, Monday, Dec.
1, 2008, with, from left to right: Attorney General-designate Eric Holder;
Homeland Security Secretary-designate Janet Napolitano; Defense Secretary
Robert Gates; Vice President-elect Joe Biden; Secretary of State-designate
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.; National Security Adviser-designate
Ret. Marine Gen. James Jones; and United Nations Ambassador-designate
Susan Rice. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Barack
Obama announced on Monday his national security team, including former first
lady Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state and incumbent Defense
Secretary Robert Gates, who would retain his post.
"America must be strong at home and abroad," Obama
told a news conference in his transition office headquarters in Chicago,
Illinois, drawing a full stop to a month-long speculations on his cabinet
members. Full story
U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is
flanked by Council of Economic Advisors Director-designate Christina
Romer(L), National Economic Council Director-designate Lawrence Summers
(R) as he announces the members of his economic policy team during a news
conference in Chicago, November 24, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) --
With the economy in crisis, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama Monday unveiled
his economic team pick to shore up financial markets and tackle the worst
financial crisis since the Great Depression in 1930s. Full story
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama
will have nearly named his entire cabinet by Christmas, a top Obama aide said
Friday.
John Podesta, a co-chair of the
Obama transition team, told Bloomberg News that "virtually the whole cabinet"
would be in place by the end of the year.
Earlier this week, Obama announced his nomination of New York Fed chairman
Timothy Geithner to be treasury secretary. Full story
