Press Release: Former Under Secretary of Energy Steven E. Koonin Joins the American Enterprise Institute
October 01, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Washington, DC (October 1, 2021) — AEI President Robert Doar and Ryan Streeter, the director of Domestic Policy Studies at AEI, announced today that Steven E. Koonin has joined AEI as a nonresident senior fellow, focusing on climate science and energy policy studies. Dr. Koonin formerly served as under secretary for science at the US Department of Energy, professor of theoretical physics and provost of the California Institute of Technology, and chief scientist at BP.
Dr. Koonin is concurrently a university professor at New York University, where he is professor of information, operations, and management sciences at the Leonard N. Stern School of Business; professor of civil engineering at the Tandon School of Engineering; and professor of physics at the College of Arts and Sciences.
Said Robert Doar, “We are honored and delighted that Steve Koonin has joined AEI. The breadth of his experience and the caliber of his work are remarkable, and we look forward to his future scholarship while at AEI.”
Added Ryan Streeter, “Steve Koonin has a reputation for following the evidence where it leads, regardless of politics, which is why he fits in so well at AEI. We are thrilled to have him as part of our community.”
As the chief scientific officer at the US Department of Energy from 2009 to 2011, Dr. Koonin coordinated and oversaw research across the department, on subjects including inertial fusion energy and greenhouse gas monitoring and verification. He was also the principal author of the department’s first Quadrennial Technology Review for energy, and he provided technical counsel on diverse nuclear security matters.
Earlier, Dr. Koonin spent five years as the chief scientist for BP, where he played a central role in establishing the Energy Biosciences Institute and developed long-range technology strategy for alternative and renewable energy sources. For more than three decades, he taught theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he served as chairman of the faculty and later provost for almost a decade. A member of the US National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Koonin has served on numerous advisory committees for the Departments of Energy and Defense and for the National Science Foundation.
Dr. Koonin is the author of “Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn’t, and Why It Matters” (BenBella Books, 2021).
Said Dr. Koonin, “AEI’s tradition of unbiased, evidence-based analyses is well-aligned with my own approach. I look forward to working with the AEI community to better inform the important policy choices we face.”
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