Steven Chu

Dr. Steven Chu became the Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a research laboratory of the Department of Energy managed by the University of California, in August 2004. From 1987 to August 2004, Dr. Chu served as a Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University. At Stanford, Dr. Chu served as Chair of the Physics Department from 1990 through 1993 and from 1999 through 2001. From 1983 to 1987, Dr. Chu served as the head of the Quantum Electronics Research Department at AT&T Bell Laboratories, the research division of AT&T Corp., a telecommunications company. In 1997, Dr. Chu, with two colleagues at National Institute of Standards and Technology and College de France, was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. Dr. Chu serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Rochester and on the board of directors of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Dr. Chu holds an A.B. degree in Mathematics and a B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California at Berkeley.