Former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz will speak about energy at Meinders School of Business.
Moniz was Secretary of Energy from May 2013 to January 2017.
Moniz was tasked with implementing missions in support of President Barack Obama’s goals of growing the economy, enhancing security and protecting the environment, according to energy.gov.
Moniz will speak at 9 a.m. Oct. 3 in Meinders School of Business. Admission is free and open to all students.
Before joining the Obama Administration, Moniz was the Cecil and Ida Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a faculty member since 1973. At MIT, Moniz was in charge of the Department of Physics and the Bates Linear Accelerator Center.
“This is a big deal,” said Steven Agee, dean of Meinders School of Business. “This is a big deal for the Meinders School of Business, this is a big deal for Oklahoma City University, it’s a big deal for the city to have someone of this stature and prestige here.”
Moniz was most recently the director of the MIT Energy Initiative and the director of the MIT Laboratory for Energy and the Environment.
There, he was a leader of multidisciplinary technology and policy studies on the future of nuclear power, coal, nuclear fuel cycles, natural gas, and solar energy, according to energy.gov.
“If you know about energy research, Ernie Moniz would be in the top tier of energy researchers for domestic energy resources and consumption and production, for world energy production and consumption resources. He’s a brilliant, brilliant man,” Agee said.
Along with his work at MIT, the White House and the Department of Energy, Moniz has been on many boards of directors and commissions involving science, energy and security, according to energy.gov.
“I think it’s a really good thing he’s coming,” said J.R. Holloway, economics senior. “As an economics student and business student in general, it will be beneficial to hear his insight on where the energy sector is going next.”
A dinner event will be hosted at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Petroleum Club, 100 N. Broadway Ave.
The admission fee is $95 per person and sponsorships also are available. Moniz will speak at this event as well.
“Any time you meet someone from the presidential cabinet, it’s a big deal, with the energy aspect of it or not. That’s a selective group of people, so you know they know their stuff,” Holloway said.
For more information, email Melissa Cory, director of communications and continuing professional education at mcory@okcu.edu.
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