U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has named a Nobel laureate and advocate for scientific solutions to climate change as the country's next energy secretary.
Stephen Chu is the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and he shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize in physics. As energy secretary, Chu will be responsible for developing policy related to fighting global warming - an issue the physics professor has focused on in recent years.
Mr. Obama also selected Lisa Jackson to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Jackson has served as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection in the northeastern state of New Jersey. She now works as chief of staff for the New Jersey governor. Jackson would be the first African-American to head the EPA.
The president-elect will hold a news conference Thursday to formally announce former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle as his pick for secretary of health and human services.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
