Steven Chu (born February 28, 1948, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American physicist and Nobel laureate who served as the 12th United States Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013 under President Barack Obama, becoming the first Nobel laureate to hold that position. He earned the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in laser cooling and trapping of atoms while at Bell Laboratories. Chu grew up in Garden City, New York, after his family moved there in 1950, and is the son of Chinese immigrant parents Ju-Chin Chu (a chemical engineer) and Ching-Chen Li (an economist). He earned a B.A. in mathematics and B.S. in physics from the University of Rochester (1970) and a Ph.D. in physics from UC Berkeley (1976). His career includes positions at Bell Laboratories, Stanford University (professor of physics and applied physics), UC Berkeley (professor of physics and molecular and cell biology), and as director of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2004-2009). As Energy Secretary, he focused on clean energy initiatives, renewable technologies, and climate change mitigation. Currently, he is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Professor of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University, where he continues research in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, biophysics, and energy science. He is married to Jean Chu, a physicist and former Stanford administrator, and has two sons from a previous marriage. Chu is known for his climate activism and has received numerous honors including 35 honorary degrees.