Serving for President Bush's second term in office, Samuel W. Bodman appears to be more of a money man and less of an energy man. Graduating in 1961 from Cornell University with a B.S. in chemical engineering and then receiving his ScD from MIT in 1965, it looked like Bodman was on track to work in the chemical engineering sector. Plans changed as, after 6 years of teaching as an Associate Prof. at MIT, he became the "Technical Director of the American Research and Development Corporation, a pioneer venture capital firm. He and his colleagues provided financial and managerial support to scores of new business enterprises located throughout the
Then, he was understandably asked to be the Secretary of Commerce for Bush's cabinet in 2001 and late the Deputy Secretary of Treasury in 2004. A money man it appears. Then, for the second term of President Bush, Bodman was appointed and unanimously confirmed as Secretary of Energy. History shows us that the alternative energy research and institutions were not at the top of the Bush Agenda in either his first of second terms in office. Maybe his appointments had something to do with this resistance to change; the leader of the Department of Energy was a financial giant not an energy giant.
Now, let's look at our current Secretary of Energy under President Obama: Steven Chu, the first Chinese-American to hold this position. Besides, Dr. Chu's degrees from University of Rochester and UC Berkeley, he is currently one of the leading, vocal scientific experts on moving our coal and oil world to alternative fuels and energies in an effort to combat Global Climate Change. I strongly recommend you read his autobiography on the Nobel Price website as it gives you a clear and profound understanding of where this extraordinary man comes from. Link to Autobiography
Among his accomplishments and prolific scholarly published articles are: founder of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University, member of the Copenhagen Climate Council which helped create momentum for the upcoming 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, and co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for his development of methods to cool and trap atoms using a laser's light.
Sources: http://www.good.is/?p=14784; http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1997/chu-autobio.html; http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/cabinet/; http://chineseculture.about.com/od/thechinesediaspora/p/Stevenchu.htm
It was strange to me that the previous Secretary Bodman did so much less than Secretary Chu to lead the field of energy, but rather much to help the financial sector in his careers before becoming Sec. of Energy.
Many millions of people are elated about Obama's choices for his cabinet. Time will demonstrate how Dr. Steven Chu does in his newly appointed position. An educated thinking-person might surmise that our nation will finally become a leader in clean, 21st century, alternative, and sustainable energy! How delightful and comforting that the new Secretary of Energy is at the forefront of the science and technology sector working tirelessly to champion the fight against Global Climate Change.
