Professor + Director, MIT
Ernest J. Moniz has served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) since 1973 and currently is the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems, Director of the Energy Initiative, and Director of the Laboratory for Energy and the Environment. His principal research focuses on energy technology and policy studies.
Dr. Moniz served as under secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) from October 1997 until January 2001, where he had programmatic oversight responsibility for the Offices of Science; Fossil Energy; Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy; Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology; Environmental Management; and Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Dr. Moniz also served from 1995 to 1997 as associate director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, where his responsibilities spanned the physical, life, and social and behavioral sciences; science education; and university-government partnerships. He is a member of President Obama’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the DOE Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, and the Department of Defense Threat Reduction Advisory Committee.
Dr. Moniz received a B.S. summa cum laude from Boston College, Ph.D. from Stanford University, and honorary doctorates from the University of Athens, the University of Erlangen-Nurenburg, and Michigan State University. Dr. Moniz is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Humboldt Foundation, and the American Physical Society, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He serves on the boards of directors of or as an advisor to several energy and security companies.