Bangalore: The White House has named Arun Majumdar as the first Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), an agency that is tasked with reducing America's reliance on foreign energy supplies, cutting greenhouse gas emissions, and improving energy efficiency. "It is a rare privilege and an honor when the President asks you to serve the nation in such a capacity," said Majumdar of his nomination, reports The Times Of India. An Indian immigrant engineer-scientist, Majumdar opines, "I came to this country as an immigrant and am deeply appreciative and indebted to this nation for opening the doors and welcoming me with open arms. I have received so much. This is my way of stepping up and paying back." Majumdar's India-China connections is what appears to have driven the Obama White House to choose him for the new job, considering the two countries are thought to be pivotal in the upcoming energy debate. "He has had a highly distinguished research career in the science and engineering of energy conversion, transport, and storage ranging from molecular and nanoscale level to large energy systems," the White House said in its announcement. "At Berkeley Labs and UC Berkeley, he helped shape several strategic initiatives in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy as well as energy storage." For more than a decade, Majumdar, who is also the Founding Chair of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers' Nanotechnology Institute, has been the country's leading materials scientist, making spectacular advances in energy conservation. He was recently credited with developing a way to use silicon nanowires to capture and use the energy lost as heat during the production of electricity. A Graduate in Mechanical Engineering from IIT-Mumbai, Majumdar came to the U.S. in 1985 and received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989. His nomination continues the steady march of Indian geeks and academics in the higher echelons of administration.