Two weeks after being sworn in as the director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, theoretical physicist Raymond Orbach was still brimming with excitement about his new job. “First of all, the science in the Office of Science is beautiful,” Orbach responded when asked why he’d left his previous position as chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. DOE is a “magnificent enterprise and it’s just delightful to be a part of it,” he said to a small group of journalists gathered around a table near his new office. “I’m like a kid in a candy factory.”
After more than 40 years of working as a self-described “bench scientist” supported in large part by federal funds, Orbach said “this was an opportunity for me to try and return the wonderful support I’ve had and hopefully respond to the needs of the government in terms of science.” While he...