Steven Chu is a Professor of Physics and Molecular & Cellular Physiology at Stanford University, and the Chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has published papers in atomic physics, polymer physics, biophysics, molecular biology, medical imaging, nanoparticle synthesis, batteries and other applications in electrochemistry.

He served as U.S. Secretary of Energy from January 2009 through April 2013. Prior to that, he was director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories.

Dr. Chu is the co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for contributions to laser cooling and atom trapping. He received an A.B. degree in mathematics and a B.S. in physics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley, holds 32 honorary degrees, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and 6 foreign Academies.