“With his fourth new gig since stepping down as Energy secretary last April, Steven Chu is picking up where he left off on a mission to develop more-powerful, longer-lasting batteries,” National Journal reports.

“Chu, 65, this week joined the board of directors of Amprius, a California start-up that is using technology developed at Stanford University, where Chu has returned as a physics professor. The company aims to improve the strength and capacity of the lithium-ion battery, an advanced energy-storage device with a host of potential uses.”

“Chu has been preaching the gospel of battery development since before he won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1997 and long before he was sworn in as President Obama’s first Energy secretary in 2009. At DOE, he helped funnel billions of federal dollars into battery research, particularly for use in electric vehicles.”