Statement By Secretary Granholm On President Biden’s Nomination Of Dr. Evelyn Wang

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm issued the following statement today on President Biden’s intent to nominate Dr. Evelyn N. Wang for Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE): 

“I am elated that President Biden has nominated Dr. Evelyn Wang to serve as Director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. Throughout Evelyn’s outstanding career, she has overseen groundbreaking research in heat-transfer technology that has advanced clean energy and clean water solutions. Having her experience and expertise at the helm of ARPA-E will help solidify DOE’s role as an engine of scientific innovation and a key player in the effort to address climate change. I am deeply grateful for Evelyn’s willingness to serve and I look forward to her speedy confirmation."    

About Evelyn N. Wang 

Dr. Evelyn N. Wang is the Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Ford Professor of Engineering. Her research combines heat and mass transport processes with nanoengineered materials to create innovative solutions for clean energy and water. She is a leading researcher in phase-change heat transfer, which she has applied to thermal management of electronics, thermal batteries, solar thermal energy conversion, water harvesting, and desalination devices.    

She served as Associate Director of the MIT Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center, a DOE Energy Frontiers Research Center. She was also a consultant for the Defense Science Study Group, where she advocated for increased collaboration between academia and national defense. 

Dr. Wang grew up in California, received her B.S. degree from MIT, earned her S.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford University, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Bell Laboratories, Alcatel-Lucent.