The Department of Energy stated that the new leaders will direct policy, coordinate across the administration and enact President Joe Biden’s vision for bold action on the climate crisis.
The Biden administration appointed four Indian Americans to key positions in the US Department of Energy (DOE). The administration named Tarak Shah as the Chief of Staff, Tanya Das as the Chief of Staff to the Office of Science, Narayan Subramanian as the Legal Adviser in the Office of General Counsel, and Shuchi Talati as Chief of Staff in the Office of Fossil Energy.
Tarak Shah is an energy policy expert who has been working on combating climate change for over a decade. Shah served as the personnel lead for the climate and science team at the Biden-Harris transition. He was also Chief of Staff to the Under Secretary for Science and Energy at DOE from 2014-2017. He was also a part of former President Obama’s senate and presidential campaigns.
While DOE announced 19 senior-level appointments, Shah said: “These talented and diverse public servants will deliver on President Biden’s goal to tackle the climate crisis and build an equitable clean energy future.”
Tanya Das appointed as the Chief of Staff to the Office of Science was a professional staff member on the US House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, where she focused on a variety of issues in clean energy and manufacturing policy. Das also has a PhD in electrical engineering.
Narayan Subramanian was a visiting research fellow at the Center for Law, Energy, and the Environment at Berkeley Law. He also was a fellow at the Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy at Johns Hopkins University and Data for Progress.
Shuchi Talati was a Senior Policy Adviser at Carbon180, where she worked on policies to build sustainable and equitable technological carbon removal. Talati was also a policy volunteer on the Biden-Harris campaign.
The DOE stated that the new leaders will direct policy, coordinate across the administration and enact Biden’s vision for bold action on the climate crisis. It also stated that these professionals reflect Biden’s pledge to equip his administration with a team that represents America’s diversity.
