U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm issued the following statement after U.S. Senate confirmation of Dr. Evelyn N. Wang by voice vote to serve as Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE):
“I am so grateful to the Senate for confirming Dr. Evelyn Wang to serve as Director of DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy. Now more than ever, we rely on ARPA-E to support early-stage energy technologies that will help us tackle climate change and strengthen American competitiveness. Dr. Wang’s experience and expertise with groundbreaking research will ensure that ARPA-E continues its role as a key engine of innovation and climate action. I am deeply grateful for Dr. Wang’s willingness to serve the American people, and we’re so excited to welcome her to DOE.”
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 Institute for Defense Analyses, 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.
