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16 December 2008
OSA Congratulates Member Steve Chu on Secretary of Energy Nomination
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Lyndsay Meyer
The Optical Society
+1.202.416.1435
lmeyer@osa.org
OSA Congratulates Member Steve Chu on Secretary of Energy Nomination
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15—The Optical Society (OSA) congratulates Steve Chu, OSA honorary member and award winner, for his nomination to secretary of energy by President-elect Barack Obama. Chu is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., and has been a member of OSA since 1984. Chu was elected to honorary member status in 2003.
“OSA is thrilled to congratulate one of its own on this prestigious nomination,” said OSA Executive Director Elizabeth Rogan. “Steve is a true visionary in the field of optics and is a clear leader in alternative energy. With a strong background in science and energy issues and his leadership role at Berkeley Lab, he will serve his country well as energy secretary.”
Before joining Berkeley Lab in 2004, Chu was a professor of physics and applied physics at Stanford University. While working at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1978-1987, Chu developed methods to cool and trap laser light, which led to his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. He shared the prize with Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William Phillips. In addition to his current work at Berkeley Lab to advance alternative energy science, Chu has been a leader in several high-profile studies highlighting the need for basic research funding, science education and the need for new alternative energy technologies, including the InterAcademy Council report Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future, and the National Academies’ Rising Above the Gathering Storm report. Chu has been an active member of OSA for more than 20 years. In 1994 he won OSA’s William F. Meggers Award for his contributions to spectroscopy and metrology. He was the keynote speaker at OSA’s Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, in 2006, and has volunteered on numerous committees for OSA. As an honorary member of OSA, he joins an elite class of members who have made unique, unparalleled contributions to the field of optics.
“Steve’s track record on energy speaks for itself,” said OSA President Rod Alferness of Alcatel-Lucent Bell Laboratories. “As the country faces the difficult challenge of finding alternative energy solutions to gain energy independence, I have no doubt Steve is the right person to tackle these problems.”
About OSA
Uniting more than 70,000 professionals from 134 countries, the Optical Society (OSA) brings together the global optics community through its programs and initiatives. Since 1916 OSA has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing educational resources to the scientists, engineers and business leaders who work in the field by promoting the science of light and the advanced technologies made possible by optics and photonics. OSA publications, events, technical groups and programs foster optics knowledge and scientific collaboration among all those with an interest in optics and photonics. For more information, visit www.osa.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE: For a photo of Steve Chu at OSA’s 2006 Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, e-mail lmeyer@osa.org.
