DOE NOMINEES SAY THEY WOULD ENCOURAGE TECH. DEVELOPMENT

Karen Frantz
GHG Monitor
12/20/13

Two Obama Administration nominees to science-related posts at the Department of Energy underlined their commitment to moving new technologies from the experimental stage to the commercial stage in an appearance before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee this week. The panel considered the nominations of Ellen Williams to serve as Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy; and Marc Kastner to serve as Director of DOE’s Office of Science. In response to a question from Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Williams said DOE could help bridge the gap between basic science and the market sector. “If confirmed, I would be very excited to work with ARPA-E on that mission of identifying the very early stage science results that have the potential to become transformative,” she said, adding that many of those results will come from the Department’s national laboratory system and that she would “work to get those over that gap … so that they can later move on into technology transfer to the commercial sector.”

In her opening statement, Williams also highlighted aspects of her career in which she observed the transformation of early stage research, saying she saw first-hand “fundamental studies of what might seem to be very obscure and esoteric types very difficult to carry forward that have moved forward, step by step, over a ten- or twenty-year timescale to become commercialized products which are truly changing the way we run our lives. As a result, I have a lot of optimism about the long-term power of transformative technology.” She also added: “The United States faces a lot of challenges and a lot of opportunities in developing the secure, clean and affordable energy that we need to maintain our quality of lives. I believe that ARPA-E programs are essential to these challenges.”

Kastner also said that he thinks the issue is “really important.” He said, “I believe that a lot more could be done, but I really need to still understand what is being done better before I could make specific recommendations,” adding, “But let me say that this is really important to me. If confirmed I will work really hard on it because I think it’s extremely important that the investments in basic science pay off for the American people in ways that improve their lives.”

Should DOE Pick ‘Winners and Losers?’

During the hearing, Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) asked Williams whether her job would entail “picking winners and losers,” noting that the Committee membership includes senators with coal interests. “ARPA-E’s mission is to accelerate potentially transformative technologies in their most early stages of development,” Williams responded. “Yeah, I know, but you’re not there to pick winners and losers?” Alexander interrupted. “That’s correct,” Williams said. “So our job is to make it possible for those very early stage developments to move forward to the next stage of development without picking winners and losers.”

Williams is BP’s Chief Scientist and was formerly a professor in the physics department at the University of Maryland in College Park, where she ran the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. Kastner is Donner Professor of Science and Dean of the School of Science at MIT.