U.S. Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science to speak at event organized by the University of Minnesota

MEDIA NOTE: Undersecretary Koonin will be available to the media from 3-4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 27 at the University of Minnesota campus. To arrange an interview, call Rhonda Zurn at (612) 626-7959.

Contacts:

Rhonda Zurn, College of Science and Engineering, rzurn@umn.edu, (612) 626-7959

Preston Smith, University News Services, smith@umn.edu, (612) 625-0552

MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (07/25/2011) — U.S. Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science Steven Koonin will be the keynote banquet speaker at the 11th U.S. National Congress on Computational Mechanics on Wednesday, July 27 at the Hilton in Minneapolis. The conference is organized by several University of Minnesota faculty members.

Koonin’s talk will focus on the “Role of Computing to Meet Energy Needs.”

Koonin is a former professor of theoretical physics and provost at Caltech. He served as chief scientist at BP between 2004 and early 2009 where he developed the long-range technology strategy for alternative and renewable energy sources. He also played a central role in establishing the Energy Biosciences Institute at the University of California Berkeley, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Koonin has served on numerous advisory committees for the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Defense, including the Defense Science Board and the CNO's Executive Panel. He has been involved in scientific computing throughout his career and is a strong advocate for research into renewable energies and alternate fuel sources. His academic research in computational and nuclear physics has impacted the direction of science both nationally and internationally.

For more information or to register for the event, visit the conference website at www.usnccm.org.