ENGINEER AS ENERGY HEAD

ASEE Prism, Mar 2005 by Grose, Thomas

POLITICS

PRESIDENT BUSH'S nominee to replace Spencer Abraham as Energy Secretary is a former MIT chemical engineer. Samuel Bodman deputy secretary of the Treasury, and a former deputy Commerce secretarywill take over the Department of Energy with a charge from Bush to make the United States less dependent on foreign gas and oil. Bodman, 66, received his doctorate from MIT in 1966, then spent six years there as an associate professor of chemical engineering. He's also headed the Boston Chemical Co., and Cabot Corp.; and was president of Fidelity Investments. Critics of Bush's energy policies reacted cautiously to Bodman's nomination. The Sierra Club, noting Bodman's scientific and financial background, said it hoped he would look for solutions beyond a continued reliance on fossil fuels. At the Department of Commerce, Bodman had oversight of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. -TG