Majumdar is a favorite of President Barack Obama.
WASHINGTON, DC: Dr. Arun Majumdar, a scientist at Stanford University, who was President Barack Obama’s nomination in 2011 for the Under Secretary of Energy, but which was withdrawn six months later, has been appointed as one of the Science Envoys of the US.
Along with Majumdar, three other eminent scientists, Peter Hotez, Jane Lubchenco and Geri Richmond, would serve as US envoys from January next year, according to the State Department.
Majumdar is the Jay Precourt Professor at Stanford University, where he serves on the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and is a Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy.
Like their nine predecessors, these distinguished scientists will engage internationally at the citizen and government levels to develop partnerships, improve collaboration, and forge mutually beneficial relationships between other nations and the US to stimulate increased scientific cooperation and foster economic prosperity, the Department said in a statement.
Science Envoys travel as private citizens and advice the White House, the Department of State, and the scientific community about potential opportunities for cooperation.
An IIT-Bombay alum, Majumdar is a materials scientist and engineer, wo earlier ran the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he was also the deputy director of LBNL as well a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.