President Ronald J. Daniels sent a broadcast e-mail
message on Thursday alerting Johns Hopkins
University faculty, students and staff to President Barack
Obama's nomination of Provost Kristina M.
Johnson as undersecretary of the Department of Energy. The
text of that message follows. The
White House announcement is available
here.
________________
Earlier today [March 12], President Obama announced
that he will nominate Provost Kristina M.
Johnson to be undersecretary of the Department of
Energy.
If confirmed by the Senate as undersecretary, Provost
Johnson will be responsible for leading
administration initiatives aimed at promoting energy
efficiency and developing solar and wind power,
geothermal energy, clean car technology and other forms of
renewable, green energy.
Given the centrality of global warming and clean
energy in President Obama's recent address to
Congress, the nomination of Provost Johnson to this role is
a testament to her outstanding record of
scholarship, innovation and leadership. She is a
distinguished researcher, best known for pioneering
work — with widespread scientific and commercial
application — in the field of "smart pixel arrays."
Last
year, she was awarded the John Fritz Medal, widely
considered the highest award in engineering and
previously given to Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell,
George Westinghouse and Orville Wright.
She is an entrepreneur and has served with distinction as
dean of engineering at Duke and, since 2007,
as provost at Johns Hopkins.
At Johns Hopkins, Provost Johnson has had a major
impact on the uni-versity's academic
program. She led the 18-month Framework for the Future
strategic study, which involved colleagues
from across the university. That enterprise produced
recommendations for strengthening the
university's research and education activities. Provost
Johnson also launched the Mosaic Initiative,
which has successfully recruited underrepresented
minorities onto the university's faculty.
She has fostered a number of innovative partnerships
within Johns Hopkins and with other
institutions, contributed significantly to the formation of
our new schools of business and education,
and restructured the Provost's Office to enhance its
ability to discharge its responsibilities and
support the deans and the faculty.
Provost Johnson's record makes clear her passion for
harnessing interdisciplinary collaboration
to address society's most urgent social and scientific
problems. Her experience, creativity and
commitment to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration
will contribute powerfully to the
administration's efforts aimed at addressing global warming
and other major energy-related problems.
Although we will miss Kristina's energy and
imagination, it is a singular source of pride for Johns
Hopkins that she has been called upon to serve the country
at such a critical juncture. I know you all
join me in thanking her for all she has contributed to
Johns Hopkins in the past two years and in
congratulating her on her nomination.