Last week, the Obama administration leaked that their choice for Secretary of Energy would be Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu, currently the director of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Yesterday, Obama made it official, publicly announcing his nomination for Chu. Personally, I think this is fantastic – a second highly competent and qualified Asian American nominated by Obama – the first being General Eric Shinseki for Veteran Affairs.
When I emailed the news last week to a friend of mine who went to Stanford (where Chu used to be a professor) he responded, “This is AWESOME! I had a class with this guy back in college. Actually, I attended 2-3 sessions but didn’t understand a word that came out of the guy’s mouth (not because of his english, but because I didn’t understand the subject), I dropped it.” From all accounts, Chu is a brilliant and creative scientist. Hopefully, he is also politically savvy as he navigates the halls of Washington.
Chu’s nomination is kind of ironic, especially given the recent controversy of Asian Americans against Governor Bill Richardson serving on the Obama administration due to his controversial role in prosecuting Wen Ho Lee under the Clinton administration when he served as Secretary of Energy. I wonder how Chu would handle a Wen Ho Lee-like controversy as Secretary of Energy; certainly, he’d understand that just because someone is Chinese, doesn’t mean they are a spy for Communist China.
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Other posts you may be interested in:
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4 Comments to “Obama nominates Nobel physicist Steven Chu as Energy secretary”
John wrote:
A Nobel Laureate in the White House
http://www.asianweek.com/2008/12/19/a-nobel-laureate-in-the-white-house-nobel-laureate-steven-chu-named-energy-secretary-2/
Posted on 19-Dec-08 at 2:05 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » The Daily Show: Aasif Mandvi on Dr. Sanjay Gupta: An Asian American/Asian Canadian Blog wrote:
[...] Americans, as well as Asian Americans, questioning with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, General Shinseki and Dr. Steven Chu, who will win “the great Asian cabinet [...]
Posted on 09-Jan-09 at 8:01 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Kumar Goes to Washington wrote:
[...] Obama administration having cabinet members such as General Eric Shinseki for Veteran Affairs and Dr. Steven Chu for Secretary of Energy, I look forward to Kal Penn actively engaging the Asian American community as part of his role as [...]
Posted on 08-Apr-09 at 7:01 am | Permalink
8Asians.com » Energy of Secretary Steve Chu, Obama Cabinet Media Superstar wrote:
[...] When is the last time you’ve remembered who the Secretary of Energy was? I can’t think of one, until now; as you know, I’ve been blogging about Dr. Steven Chu as soon as he arrived on the scene. [...]
Posted on 25-Jul-09 at 6:01 am | Permalink
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