Cheat Sheet

Talk about qualified. Barack Obama has named a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to be his energy secretary. Steven Chu, a Chinese-American professor of molecular and cell biology at the University of California-Berkeley, won the Nobel Prize in 1997 for his work in the "development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light." Officials tell the Wall Street Journal that he's likely to focus on basic science and nuclear weapons while Carol Browner, Obama’s new his "energy czar," will work on renewable energy and energy efficiency policy from the White House. Obama also tapped Lisa Jackson, an environmental-policy official in New Jersey, to head up the EPA, and Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley to chair his Council on Environmental Quality. Taken together, the appointments signal the President elect's commitments to combating climate change and boosting energy efficiency.