Under
Secretary's Biography
Dr. Raymond L. Orbach
Under Secretary for Science
Raymond Lee Orbach was sworn in by Secretary
Samuel W. Bodman as the Department of Energy’s
first Under Secretary for Science on June 1,
2006. President Bush nominated Dr. Orbach for
the new position, created by the Energy Policy
Act of 2005, on December 13, 2005, and he was
unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on
May 26, 2006.
Secretary Bodman has tasked Dr. Orbach with the department’s implementation of the President’s American Competitiveness Initiative, will help drive continued U.S. economic growth.
The Secretary also has charged Dr. Orbach with leading the Department's efforts to transfer technologies from DOE national laboratories and facilities to the global marketplace, naming the Under Secretary for Science as the Department's Technology Transfer Coordinator, in accordance with the Energy Policy Act, and as chair of the DOE Technology Transfer Policy Board, responsible for coordinating and implementing policies for the Department's technology transfer activities.
Dr. Orbach continues to serve as the 14th Director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy, a position he has held since the Senate confirmed him and he was sworn in in March 2002. In this capacity, Dr. Orbach manages an organization that is the third largest Federal sponsor of basic research in the United States, the primary supporter of the physical sciences in the U.S., and one of the premier science organizations in the world.
The Office of Science fiscal year 2008 budget of $4.0 billion funds programs in high energy and nuclear physics, basic energy sciences, magnetic fusion energy, biological and environmental research, and computational science. The Office of Science, formerly the Office of Energy Research, also provides management oversight of 10 DOE non-weapons laboratories, supports researchers at more than 300 colleges and universities nationwide, and builds and operates the world’s finest suite of scientific facilities and instruments used annually by more than 19,000 researchers world-wide to extend the frontiers of science.
From 1992 to 2002, Dr. Orbach served as Chancellor
of the University of California (UC), Riverside.
Under his leadership, UC Riverside doubled in
size, achieved national and international recognition
in research, and led the University of California
in diversity and educational opportunity. In
addition to his administrative duties at UC
Riverside, sustained an active research program;
worked with postdoctoral, graduate, and undergraduate
students in his laboratory; and taught the freshman
physics course each year. As Distinguished Professor
of Physics, Dr. Orbach set the highest standards
for academic excellence.
Dr. Orbach began his academic career as a postdoctoral
fellow at Oxford University in 1960 and became
an assistant professor of applied physics at
Harvard University in 1961. He joined the faculty
of the University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) two years later as an associate professor,
and became a full professor in 1966. From 1982
to 1992, he served as the Provost of the College
of Letters and Science at UCLA.
Dr. Orbach's research in theoretical and experimental
physics has resulted in the publication of more
than 240 scientific articles. He has received
numerous honors as a scholar including two Alfred
P. Sloan Foundation Fellowships, a National
Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellowship
at Oxford University, a John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Foundation Fellowship at Tel Aviv University,
the Joliot Curie Professorship at the Ecole
Superieure de Physique et Chimie Industrielle
de la Ville de Paris, the Lorentz Professorship
at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands,
the 1991-1992 Andrew Lawson Memorial Lecturer
at UC Riverside, the 2004 Arnold O. Beckman
Lecturer in Science and Innovation at the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Outstanding
Alumni Award from the California Institute of
Technology in 2005.
Dr. Orbach is a fellow of the American Physical
Society and the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. Dr. Orbach has also
held numerous visiting professorships at universities
around the world. These include the Catholic
University of Leuven in Belgium, Tel Aviv University,
and the Imperial College of Science and Technology
in London. He also serves as a member of 20
scientific, professional, and civic boards.
Dr. Orbach received his Bachelor of Science
degree in Physics from the California Institute
of Technology in 1956. He received his Ph.D.
degree in Physics from the University of California,
Berkeley, in 1960 and was elected to Phi Beta
Kappa.
Dr. Orbach was born in Los Angeles, California.
He is married to Eva S. Orbach. They have three
children and seven grandchildren and three step-grandchildren.
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