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Energy undersecretary to speak in Aspen

Aspen Times Staff Report
Aspen, CO Colorado
Steven K. Koonin
ALL |

ASPEN – Physicist Steven E. Koonin, undersecretary of science for the Department of Energy, will speak Saturday at Aspen’s Paepcke Auditorium at 6 p.m. on “Addressing America’s Energy Challenges.” The talk is free and open to the public.

President Obama nominated Koonin to the DOE position in March. Koonin will serve with his colleague, Steven Chu, the Nobel Laureate physicist named secretary of energy. Both Koonin and Chu have participated in the Aspen Center for Physics, which is sponsoring the event with the Aspen Science Center and The Aspen Institute.

Koonin served four years as chief scientist with British Petroleum, London, one of the world’s largest energy companies, where he was responsible for long-range technology plans and activities, particularly those “beyond petroleum” in alternative and renewable energy sources. He also had purview over BP’s major university research programs around the world and provided technical advice to the company’s senior executives.



Koonin joined BP in 2004 following a 29-year career at the California Institute of Technology as a professor of theoretical physics, including a 9-year term as the institute’s provost. He has served on numerous advisory bodies for the National Science Foundation, the departments of defense and energy and various national laboratories.