Steven E. Koonin

Koonin received his Bachelor of Science from Caltech and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the supervision of Arthur Kerman in the MIT Center for Theoretical Physics.[3][4][5] In 1975, Koonin joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor of Theoretical Physics, and served as the Institute's provost from 1995 to 2004.[6][7] In 2004, Koonin joined BP as their Chief Scientist where he was responsible for guiding the company’s long-range technology strategy, particularly in alternative and renewable energy sources.[8] In 2009, he was appointed the U.S. Department of Energy’s second Senate-confirmed Under Secretary for Science serving from May 19, 2009 through November 18, 2011.[9] He left that post in November 2011 for a position at the Institute for Defense Analyses. On April 23, 2012, Koonin was named director of NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP).[10]

He has served on numerous advisory bodies for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy and its various national laboratories, such as the JASON defense advisory group, which he has chaired.[11] Koonin's research interests have included theoretical nuclear, many-body, and computational physics, nuclear astrophysics, and global environmental science.[12]

The Trump administration proposed creating "red team" exercises in the EPA to challenge the scientific consensus on climate. Koonin was proposed to be involved in these exercises.[13]

The Trump administration proposed to create a presidential committee in 2019 that would conduct an "adversarial" review of the scientific consensus on climate change. Koonin was actively involved in recruiting others to be part of this review.[14]

• Computational Physics: Fortran Version, ISBN 978-0-201-38623-3