<p>Arunava Majumdar, a top Indian-American scientist, is leaving his job at the US energy department as the Senate has not confirmed his elevation as an undersecretary at the department.<br /><br /></p>.<p>President Barack Obama Tuesday withdrew Majumdar's nomination, which was sent to the Senate on Nov 30 last year, a brief White House announcement said.<br /><br />However, Science journal citing Energy Secretary Steven Chu reported that Majumdar, who has led the energy department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for nearly two-and-a-half years, will leave June 9.<br /><br />"Under Arun's leadership, we have seen ARPA-E grow from a fledgling programme to become a leading agency for innovation and energy research," Chu wrote to agency staff members in an e-mail last week.<br /><br />"Arun has recruited some of the most talented professionals across the country to join the ranks at ARPA-E and create programs that have the potential of changing the entire energy landscape."<br /><br />Majumdar came to Washington from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.<br />"Arun's departure is a kick in the stomach," Barton Gordon, a former member of the US House of Representatives who spearheaded the creation of ARPA-E in 2007, was quoted as saying.<br /><br />Gordon, now a lobbyist with K&L Gates in Washington, DC, said Majumdar is a "good scientist and a good organizer who created a good bipartisan following [in Congress] for ARPA-E. I don't think people realised what a good politician he is. He's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy."<br /><br />Modelled after the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA-E is designed to funnel money quickly to high-risk, "transformational" efforts to develop new energy technologies.</p>
<p>Arunava Majumdar, a top Indian-American scientist, is leaving his job at the US energy department as the Senate has not confirmed his elevation as an undersecretary at the department.<br /><br /></p>.<p>President Barack Obama Tuesday withdrew Majumdar's nomination, which was sent to the Senate on Nov 30 last year, a brief White House announcement said.<br /><br />However, Science journal citing Energy Secretary Steven Chu reported that Majumdar, who has led the energy department's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) for nearly two-and-a-half years, will leave June 9.<br /><br />"Under Arun's leadership, we have seen ARPA-E grow from a fledgling programme to become a leading agency for innovation and energy research," Chu wrote to agency staff members in an e-mail last week.<br /><br />"Arun has recruited some of the most talented professionals across the country to join the ranks at ARPA-E and create programs that have the potential of changing the entire energy landscape."<br /><br />Majumdar came to Washington from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.<br />"Arun's departure is a kick in the stomach," Barton Gordon, a former member of the US House of Representatives who spearheaded the creation of ARPA-E in 2007, was quoted as saying.<br /><br />Gordon, now a lobbyist with K&L Gates in Washington, DC, said Majumdar is a "good scientist and a good organizer who created a good bipartisan following [in Congress] for ARPA-E. I don't think people realised what a good politician he is. He's a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of guy."<br /><br />Modelled after the Pentagon's Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA-E is designed to funnel money quickly to high-risk, "transformational" efforts to develop new energy technologies.</p>