Indian-American scientist to leave top energy job

Arunava Majumdar, a top Indian-American scientist, is leaving his job at the US energy department as the Senate has not confirmed his elevation as an undersecretary at the department.

Arunava Majumdar, a top Indian-American scientist, is leaving his job at the US energy department as the Senate has not confirmed his elevation as an undersecretary at the department.

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President Barack Obama Tuesday withdrew Majumdar's nomination, which was sent to the Senate on Nov 30 last year, a brief White House announcement said.

However, Science journal citing Energy Secretary Steven Chu reported that Majumdar, who has led the energy department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for nearly two-and-a-half years, will leave June 9.

"Under Arun's leadership, we have seen ARPA-E grow from a fledgling programme to become a leading agency for innovation and energy research," Chu wrote to agency staff members in an e-mail last week.

"Arun has recruited some of the most talented professionals across the country to join the ranks at ARPA-E and create programs that have the potential of changing the entire energy landscape."

Majumdar came to Washington from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

"Arun's departure is a kick in the stomach," Barton Gordon, a former member of the US House of Representatives who spearheaded the creation of ARPA-E in 2007, was quoted as saying.

Modelled after the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA-E is designed to funnel money quickly to high-risk, "transformational" efforts to develop new energy technologies.