Date: September 17, 2012

Time: 4:30 pm -

Location: Computer Science 104

Dr. Arun Majumdar, former Acting Undersecretary of Energy for the U.S. Department of Energy, addresses energy policy issues in his speech “A New Industrial Revolution for a Sustainable Energy Future” on September 17, 2012.

BIOGRAPHY
In October 2009, Dr. Arun Majumdar was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to become the founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), where he served till June 2012.  Between March 2011 and June 2012, Dr. Majumdar also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, and a Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy.

As part of his legacy, Dr. Majumdar helped create a vision for ARPA-E to innovate the future of energy technologies, recruit top talent, create new programs to translate science into a broad spectrum of potentially game-changing energy technologies, while setting up an organization with a culture of speed, efficiency, transparency, and integrity. As the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, Dr. Majumdar was responsible for integrating technologies and policies across all of DOE along techno-economic sectors to maximize leveraging of federal funding and to accelerate technology transition from research to markets.

Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Majumdar was the Almy and Agnes Maynard Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research career includes the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and devices as well as large engineered systems. In 2005, Dr. Majumdar was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.

ABSTRACT
Access to affordable and reliable energy has been a cornerstone of the world’s increasing prosperity and economic growth since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Our use of energy in the twenty-first century must also be sustainable.  This talk will provide a techno-economic snapshot of the current energy landscape and discuss several research and development opportunities and challenges to create the foundation for this new industrial revolution.  The talk will also discuss policies to stimulate innovation and align market forces to accelerate the development and deployment of affordable, accessible and sustainable energy that can simultaneously power economic growth, increase energy security and mitigate the risks of climate change.