Steven E Koonin
Chief Scientist
BP
Koonin joined BP in 2004 as Group Chief Scientist. He is responsible for the company's long range technology plans and activities, particularly those "beyond petroleum." He also has purview over BP's major university research programs around the world and provides technical advice to BP's senior executives on matters on Group significance.
Koonin was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received a B.S. in physics from Caltech in 1972 and a Ph.D in theoretical physics from MIT in 1975. He joined the Caltech professorial faculty in 1975, and served as the Institute's Vice President and Provost from 1995-2004.
Koonin is a fellow of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission. He has served on numerous advisory bodies for the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy and its various national laboratories. His research interests have included theoretical nuclear, many-body, and computational physics, nuclear astrophysics, and global environmental science.