by Chris Douglas
President Clinton has nominated Professor Ernest J. Moniz, head of the Physics Department, for the position of Undersecretary of Energy. Moniz returned to MIT in February after serving as the Associate Director for Science of the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy since July 1995.
If the Senate confirms Moniz as Undersecretary, he will be primarily involved in three Department of Energy (DOE) objectives: the stewardship of the nuclear stockpile, the furthering of basic science research, and the development of new energy technologies, a project allied with the department's environmental goals.
Moniz describes his role in nuclear security as one of advising, structuring, and guiding programs to ensure the safety and reliability of nuclear weapons without nuclear testing so as to be able to comply with the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Concerning DOE missions involving basic science research, Moniz comments, "In what is a tight budgetary time, I'll be doing my best to ensure that the country sustains its cutting edge science infrastructure," in part through more efficient management of the so-called user facilities, government labs such as the Fermi accelerator and neutron reactors.
His oversight of this system of laboratories, which employs between fifteen and twenty thousand scientists from government, academia, and industry, will be instrumental to the nuclear program and to the continued development of new energy sources and conservation methods.
Energy research is central to another primary DOE mission, the long-term protection of the environment. Remarks Moniz, "We need to develop a robust set of options with renewable technologies ... and of course [develop programs for] conservation, the ultimate clean energy source."
The history of collaboration between academia and government is a longstanding one. "MIT has had for decades a strong tradition of public service," says Moniz. He refers to the administrative encouragement of service he felt from Jerome Wiesner (President of MIT 1971-1980, chairman of the President's Science Advisory Committee, 1961-1964), "Jerry exuded the notion that you were expected to be a first class scientist or engineer, but you were also expected to serve the country as best you could ... and I would put my own service in that tradition."
This tradition dates back to end of World War II, and MIT's role in forming the nation's science and technology policy. Having seen the enormous impact of technology during the war, President Roosevelt asked Vannevar Bush (Dean of Engineering) to prepare a science policy document for the post-war years, which was later delivered to President Truman in 1945.
Professor Moniz recalls, "That document was called 'Science, The Endless Frontier,' and it marked the start of a whole new way of the government supporting science and its concomitant educational function in the country. In fact, in my view, the single most important part of the Bush statement was its strong linking of research and education and the argument, consequently, for having the universities be the centerpiece for the nation's basic research enterprise."
Universities maintain that link, and the link with government; in recent times, MIT has had three professors working in Washington: Professor of Physics Ernest Moniz (as Associate Director for Science of the OSTP), Institute Professor John Deutch (as Director of the CIA), and Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Sheila Widnall (as Secretary of the Air Force).
The dates for the Senate confirmation hearings concerning Moniz's nomination will be set soon after the Congressional recess ends on September 2, and may occur later that month.