New Head for NREL

Dan Arvizu, a long-time Sandia National Laboratories researcher in solar energy and other alternative energy fields, has been named the new director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. Arvizu moves to the NREL job from CH2M Hill, a Colorado-based multinational construction and engineering company.

“Dan is well known around the Department of Energy as someone who understands energy technology. Not just renewable energy, but nuclear and fossil energy as well,” said David Garman, DOE’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy. Arvizu, who has a PhD in mechanical engineering, began his career with Bell Labs in Denver in 1973, and then transferred to Sandia’s solar energy division in 1977. AT&T, parent of Bell Labs, operated Sandia at the time.

In 1992, Arvizu became director of Sandia’s advanced energy technology and policy center and in 1996 was named director of the lab’s materials and process science center. In 1998, he moved to CH2M Hill.

“Renewable energy has a significant role to play; not the only role, but a significant one,” Arvizu said after his appointment in early January. “I plan to strengthen the role of the laboratory in providing credible technology solutions that are viable in the marketplace.” Arvizu succeeds former astronaut and NASA administrator Richard Truly, who was NREL’s director for seven years.