Dr. Steven E. Koonin is a University Professor at New York University with appointments in the School of Business, the School of Engineering, and the Department of Physics.  From April 2012 through August 2018 he was the founding director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress focused on big data for big cities.  Koonin served as Undersecretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy from May 2009 until November 2011 and as Chief Scientist for BP, p.l.c. from March 2004 to May 2009. From 1975 to 2006 he was a professor of theoretical physics at Caltech, serving as the institute's Provost from 1995 to 2004. His memberships include the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a Fellow of the U.S. Council on Competitiveness, a Trustee of the Institute for Defense Analyses, and a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission to Reimagine New York State. Koonin holds a B.S. in Physics from Caltech (1972) and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from MIT (1975).  He has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed research papers and supervised some 30 PhD theses.