In a flurry of nominations this week, the Joe Biden administration tapped a political ecologist and university professor to head up the Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Asmeret Berhe, who’s currently a professor of soil biogeochemistry at University of California, Merced, is the administration’s pick to lead DOE’s science office, according to a Thursday press release timed to coincide with Earth Day.
Berhe is a fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Geological Society of America, and a member of the U.S. National Academies New Voices in Science, Engineering, and Medicine. She previously served as chair of the U.S. National Committee on Soil Science at the National Academies. She was also a board member for the Earth Science Women’s Network.
The DOE Office of Science supports energy research initiatives and oversees 10 of the nation’s 17 national laboratories, including Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Fermi National Accelerator.
