National News
UTEP Millennium Lecture Focuses on Energy Security
By HE&IT
Apr 9, 2010, 15:11

The University of Texas at El Paso welcomes Raymond L. Orbach, Ph.D., director of the Energy Institute at The University of Texas at Austin, as a speaker with UTEP’s Millennium Lecture Series. Orbach’s discussion, “Energy Security: From Deal Killers to Game Changers” is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday, April 15, in the Undergraduate Learning Center, room 126, on Wiggins Road.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute is a multi-disciplinary institute that combines the strengths of the university’s schools and colleges to advance solutions to today’s energy-related challenges.   

Sworn in as the U.S. Department of Energy’s first undersecretary for science in 2006, Orbach was also the chief scientist of the Department of Energy and adviser to Secretary Samuel W. Bodman on science policy.  He was confirmed by the Senate in 2002 and served as the 14th director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy. Prior to his national positions, he was provost of the College of Letters and Science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Orbach also served as chancellor of the University of California (UC), Riverside. Under his leadership, UC Riverside doubled in size, achieved national and international recognition in research and led the University of California in diversity and educational opportunity. 

Orbach received his bachelor of science degree in physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1956. He received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1960. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has held numerous visiting professorships at universities around the world and is a member of 20 scientific, professional and civic boards.

The Millennium Lecture Series brings speakers to the UTEP campus to address topics that impact our society, culture and lives. The lectures in this series are intended to provoke our thinking and stimulate discussion about important issues of the day. This year’s theme is “Contemporary Issues,” and during the month of April, the focus is on energy resources and sustainability.