Forget the Nobel, How Does Chu Run a Lab?
December 24th, 2008Posted by: admin
Also in the New York Times is a small piece on Secretary of Energy designate Steven Chu’s experience at the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory. Like the current science adviser, Dr. Chu comes to federal service with significant management experience at a federal lab, which is at least as important, if not more so, than significant scientific credentials. We see in the piece suggestions that Dr. Chu is innovative, and entrepreneurial. He’s managed to see an increase in the lab’s budget while other labs have dealt with cutbacks, and he’s sought partnerships with industry in ways not typically associated with the national labs. While the collaboration with BP has raised eyebrows, I appreciate Chu’s willingness to try new things, and suspect that had a lot to do with his selection by the President-elect.
December 24th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Quote in NY Times article:
“But the growing of plants for fuel competes with the growing of food.”
Not all plants are food plants- hello- Earth to NY Times! Your switchgrass, your trees, for example.
Remember that in the intermountain west there is plenty of biomass that people would like removed from around their houses (dead lodgepole trees in Colorado, for example) . This biomass was grown with no energy used, nor pesticides nor herbicides. It doesn’t require genetic engineering.. nor energy input beyond what it takes to get it out of the woods.
While it is OK for companies to research things that are good for society that will make them money.. I hope the federal funds are also helping with appropriate social and environmental problems. It concerns me sometimes that federal funds are used to “leverage partnerships” that would not exactly be the way things would be done without the corporate interest.
Not saying that that is the case here.. but it is something to watch out for.