Energy Department Science Head William Brinkman Announces Plans To Step Down

William F. Brinkman, director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, announced that he will step down on April 12. Brinkman has overseen DOE’s almost $5 billion basic research enterprise, including 10 national labs, since June 2009. His resignation comes two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the nomination of MIT professor Ernest Moniz as secretary of energy, replacing outgoing secretary Steven Chu. Brinkman came to DOE from Princeton University’s physics department, and he had previously worked at Bell Labs and Sandia National Laboratories. In a note to the Office of Science staff, Brinkman said, “As I leave office, my biggest concern remains the erosion of science funding in the U.S. when most of the industrialized countries of the world are increasing funding.”