Dr. Arun Majumdar is the Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor at Stanford University, a faculty member of the departments of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering (by courtesy) and senior fellow and former director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. He is also a faculty in department of photon science at SLAC.
In October 2009, Dr. Majumdar was nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the senate to become the founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E), where he served till June 2012 and helped ARPA-E become a model of excellence and innovation for the government with bipartisan support from congress and other stakeholders. Between March 2011 and June 2012, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy, enabling the portfolio that reported to him: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Electricity Delivery and Reliability, Office of Nuclear Energy and the Office of Fossil Energy, as well as multiple cross-cutting efforts such as Sunshot, Grid Tech Team and others that he had initiated. Furthermore, he was a senior advisor to the Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, on a variety of matters related to management, personnel, budget, and policy. In 2010, he served on Secretary Chu’s science team to help stop the leak of the Deep Water Horizon (BP) oil spill.
After leaving Washington, DC and before joining Stanford, Dr. Majumdar was the vice president for energy at Google, where he assembled a team to create technologies and businesses at the intersection of data, computing and electricity grid.
Dr. Majumdar is a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, US National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His research in the past has involved the science and engineering of nanoscale materials and devices, especially in the areas of energy conversion, transport and storage as well as biomolecular analysis. His current research focuses on redox reactions and systems that are fundamental to a sustainable energy future, multidimensional nanoscale imaging and microscopy, and an effort to leverage modern AI techniques to develop and deliver energy and climate solutions.
Prior to joining the Department of Energy, Dr. Majumdar was the Almy & Agnes Maynard Chair Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering at University of California–Berkeley and the Associate Laboratory Director for energy and environment at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He also spent the early part of his academic career at Arizona State University and University of California, Santa Barbara.
Dr. Majumdar served as the vice chair of the advisory board of US Secretary of Energy, Dr. Ernest Moniz, and was also a science envoy for the US Department of State with focus on energy and technology innovation in the Baltics and Poland. He also serves on numerous advisory boards and boards of businesses, investment groups and non-profit organizations
Dr. Majumdar received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 1985 and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.
Arun Majumdar
Investor Profile
South Africa’s GEPF prepares the ground for a two pot system
South Africa’s $119 billion Government Employee Pension Fund is in the process of readying its investment processes for a new law that will allow people to draw down some of their retirement income early.
Sarah RundellApril 24, 2024
Investor Profile
Giants APG and GPIF collaborate on infra
Two of the biggest pension funds in the world, the Dutch APG and Japan’s GPIF, have joined forces to invest in large scale infrastructure deals. The move comes as APG Asia head Thijs Aaten says he envisages more than half of the fund’s real assets will be in Asia.
Amanda WhiteApril 18, 2024
Investor Profile
CalSTRS’ sustainability strategy: Net zero and investing in opportunities
CalSTRS’ net zero strategy has provided a new level of focus and anchor for the 220-person investment team. Kirsty Jenkinson, investment director for the sustainable investment and stewardship strategies at the fund, explains its evolution including integrating climate scenarios into its asset liability modelling study.
Sarah RundellApril 16, 2024
Featured Story
Applying a factor approach to total portfolio management
A new report points to the Total Portfolio Approach (TPA) as one way for institutional investors to build more resiliency into their portfolios. Report contributors Derek Walker and Geoffrey Rubin from CPP Investments explain how they apply a factor lens to the process.
Sarah RundellApril 15, 2024
Investor Profile
Denmark’s PenSam introduces new climate index to solve tech tilt
A new climate index at Danish investor PenSam aims to solve the overweight to tech stocks, a common problem for sustainable investors give the sector is low emitting and solving many of the challenges of climate change.
Sarah RundellApril 11, 2024
Investor Profile
TfL explains why hedge funds provide essential diversification
Padmesh Shukla, chief investment officer of the £14 billion Transport for London Pension Fund explains why he believes hedge funds are a crucial element to a diversified portfolio.
Sarah RundellApril 11, 2024
Investor Profile
Fast growing UK DC master trust Smart Pension prioritises tech, low costs
Paul Bucksey, CIO of Smart Pension, the UK's fast growing DC master trust explains why Smart Pension's low cost, technologically advanced model is proving so successful.
Sarah RundellApril 9, 2024