Today the entire world is writhing under the juggernaut of the scarcity of natural resources. In the technocratic world, where the rat race for better standard of living luster the human eye, ignoring the grave fact of continuous depletion of natural resources. Carrying the ‘Obama Vision’ bold and loud, Arun Majumdar is determined to bring an ‘Energy Renaissance’ by designing buildings to be super energy efficient and then generating any energy they need through rooftop solar, creating the possibility of net-zero energy buildings. ‘Zero net energy a goal for every home’, the renaissance man is determined give a fillip to the general society, who can crowbar the entire generation, who can lift the entire society to a higher standard of life, and such men are mighty.
The fragrance his thoughts, the might and glory of his ideals give the momentum to the society for its benefit. Arun Majumdar’s significant contributions in cutting gas emissions and improving energy efficiency made him reach the epitome of a visionary. His diligent act, his passion to excel, his gusto to improve, his spirit to consume his present abilities to the fullest ignited him with a spark to unleash the portals of excellence in his each and every endeavor, Arun Majumdar, truly a pride of India, has writ large his name not only in the tabloids of America but also on the key administration post dealing with energy research.
Arun Majumdar, an amalgamation of proficiency and efficiency, has made Indian existence & its education bold & vociferous in the firmament of change. A product of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, received his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering in 1985 and his Ph.D. In 1989 from the University of California, Berkeley.
Arun Majumdar, a harbinger of ‘Obama vision’, is putting in his heart & soul in bringing about a change which a must to resurrect the society from turbulence to peace and from exploiting the limited sources of nature to their optimum usage. Arun Majumdar is the Director of the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an organization tasked with reducing America’s reliance on foreign energy supplies, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and improving energy efficiency.
Majumdar also held the position of the Associate Laboratory Director for Energy and Environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.
Majumdar with his proven dexterity to bring skill, dedication and expertise in the important and key areas in Obama administration propelled the president of ‘Super power’ to work in close proximity with him.
Majumdar owns a highly distinguished research career in the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems. For his pioneering work, he was elected as a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. In 1997, he held the Almy and Agnes Maynard Chair Professorship in the College of Engineering and headed the Environmental Energy Technologies Division, Majumdar cemented the Lab’s role as a world renowned leader in energy efficiency research in close collaboration with India and China, a feat the White House has been quick to recognize and reward.
At Berkeley Labs and University of California, he helped shape several strategic initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy as well as energy storage, and testified before Congress on how to reduce energy consumption in buildings.
He has served on the advisory committee of the National Science Foundation’s engineering directorate, was a member of the advisory council to the materials sciences and engineering division of Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Sciences, and was an advisor on nanotechnology to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Majumdar has also been an entrepreneur and has served as an advisor to startup companies and venture capital firms in Silicon Valley.
At the time when Washington is hectoring the world, principally India and China, to cut emissions, amid a growing trade and job protectionism, an (Indian) immigrant engineer-scientist heading the premier agency sounds pretty strange but Majumdar, an articulate persona, considers that holding a key position under Obama is a rare privilege and an honor especially when the President finds an individual capable in such a pivotal capacity. Majumdar being a part of Obama administration sends ripples across the country’s scientific-academic community.
“I came to this country as an immigrant and am deeply appreciative and indebted to this nation for opening the doors and welcoming me with open arms. I have received so much. This is my way of stepping up and paying back”, says Majumdar.
Not that the IIT-Bombay graduate has forsaken his roots in fact, according to him his roots may well have been responsible for his nomination.
Among the lab’s partnerships is the Berkeley-India Joint Leadership on Energy and the Environment brings together researchers from Berkeley Lab and UC Berkeley, and other US and Indian universities and institutions, with a goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining sustained economic growth in both nations.
Another partnership between the Lab and China’s Tsinghua University is to promote the shared development and implementation of building energy efficiency, a move intended to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in the US and China.
In fact, Majumdar’s mentor in academia was Professor Chang-Lin Tien, a legendary Chinese Don who went to become the Chancellor of UC Berkeley in 1990, the first Asian to head a major university in the United States. Majumdar’s India-China connections helped him get noticed and awarded by Obama for wonderfully carrying out Obama vision as the two countries are being considered pivotal in the upcoming energy debate.
For more than a decade, Majumdar, who is also the founding chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Nanotechnology Institute, has been the country’s leading materials scientist, making spectacular advances in energy conservation. He was recently credited with developing a way to use silicon nanowires to capture and use the energy lost as heat during the production of electricity. The futuristic technology could someday be used to convert the large amounts of waste heat into useful electricity.
Arun Majumdar cultivated a system of order in our inner equipments of experiences and his exemplary foray in harmonizing the lives of the individuals makes him the uncrowned king and truly a ‘Green Czar’.
Resonance Blog 