This is an excerpt from EERE Network News, a weekly electronic newsletter.

May 22, 2013

Ernest Moniz Sworn in as New Secretary of Energy

Ernest Moniz on May 21 was sworn in as the new energy secretary, after being unanimously confirmed on May 16 by the U.S. Senate. He is replacing former Energy Secretary Steven Chu. Prior to his appointment, Moniz was the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a faculty member since 1973. At MIT, he headed the department of physics and the Bates Linear Accelerator Center, and served as the founding director of the MIT Energy Initiative and director of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. During the Clinton Administration, Moniz was undersecretary of energy and associate director of the White House Office of Science and Technology.

"I look forward to the progress we will make together in the coming years—advancing the President's all-of-the-above energy strategy," said Moniz in an email to Energy Department staff, adding that the Department's work would promote American leadership in science and clean energy technology innovation.

"Dr. Moniz is a world-class scientist with expertise in a range of energy sources and a leader with a proven record of bringing prominent thinkers and innovators together to advance new energy solutions," said President Obama of his appointee. "He also shares my conviction that the United States must lead the world in developing more sustainable sources of energy that create new jobs and new industries, and in responding to the threat of global climate change." See the Energy Department press release and the White House press release.