Steven Chu

Steven Chu is President Barack Obama's Energy Secretary and the first Nobel laureate to serve in a presidential cabinet.

By picking Chu — who shared the 1997 prize in physics for his work trapping atoms with lasers — as his candidate for energy secretary, Obama is trying to turn the tide on a government bureaucracy that under the Bush Administration often minimized the importance of scientific expertise. While much of the Department of Energy's attention has previously focused on nuclear weapons and waste, Chu, a firm believer in the dangers of climate change, is trying to fulfil Obama's promise to create millions of green collar jobs, develop alternative energy options and make the nation more energy independent.

Born in St. Louis on Feb. 28, 1948 to Chinese immigrants who came to America to get their degrees — his father in chemical engineering and his mother in economics. Grew up on Long Island, New York. His was one of only three Chinese families in his Long Island town. In the eighth grade, he taught himself tennis by reading an instructional book and taught himself how to pole vault "using bamboo poles obtained from the local carpet store."

Chu earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also taught as a professor. He was chair of the Stanford University physics department and head of a research facility at Bell Labs and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which is owned by, ironically, the Department of Energy.

He has been a strong advocate of biofuels and solar energy research and is the first Energy Secretary who is also a working scientist.

- Gilbert Cruz