US Energy Secretary: Ernest Moniz nominated by President Obama
President Obama nominated Prof. Ernest Moniz, Director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Energy Initiative and Honorary Trustee of The Cyprus Institute as Energy secretary of the US Department of Energy, one of the most important Ministries of the US Government. It deals not only with Energy but also with the stewardship of Nuclear Weapons.
Prof. Moniz is one of CyI's founding Trustees and was actively involved in the convocation of 2001 for the original planning of the Institute. He was instrumental in the creation and establishment especially of the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC). Prof. Moniz was member of the CyI's Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2012 and is now an Honorary Trustee. He was also a principal architect of the Agreement of Cooperation between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and The Cyprus Institute. He is currently leading a joint study on the natural gas discoveries in Cyprus, a project carried out in the framework of the ongoing cooperation agreement between CyI and MIT. The study will comprise a two-year program of research and analysis that will emphasize strategic options for utilizing the Cypriot natural gas resources.
Ernest Moniz served as Under Secretary of the Department of Energy under President Bill Clinton and as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President. At the Department of Energy, he had oversight of the science and energy programs, led a comprehensive review of nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, and served as the Secretary’s special negotiator for Russian nuclear materials disposition programs.
In 2008 he was awarded by the Cyprus Government the Grand Cross of the Order of Makarios III for his contribution to development of research and education in Cyprus and the wider region and especially for the development of The Cyprus Institute.
President Obama stated that Prof. Moniz knows that USA can produce more energy and grow the economy while still taking care of the air, the water and the climate and added that Moniz and the new EPA administrator are going to be making sure that the state will be investing in American energy, do everything possible to combat the threat of climate change and creating jobs and economic opportunity in the first place.
Supplementary Material
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Prof. Moniz is one of CyI’s founding Trustees and was actively involved in the convocation of 2001 for the original planning of the Institute. He was instrumental in the creation and establishment especially of the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC). Prof. Moniz was member of the CyI’s Board of Trustees from 2004 to 2012 and is now an Honorary Trustee.
