Steven Chu and President Barack Obama in 2009. Image by Charles Watkins/White House photographer

11/13/2016
Boston Herald

LOWELL, Mass. — Nobel laureate Steven Chu will receive an honorary degree from University of Massachusetts Lowell this week.

The former U.S. secretary of energy is being honored for his contributions to scientific research and the nation's work to advance the pursuit of clean energy.

Chu and two other scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997 for the development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light.

Chancellor Jacquie Moloney will present Chu with the honorary degree Wednesday during a ceremony with UMass Lowell faculty, staff and students at University Crossing.

The ceremony will be followed by Chu's presentation, "Climate Change and a Path to Clean Energy."

Chu is a professor of molecular and cellular physiology in the medical school at Stanford University.