July 29, 2009 — Martin Keller has been named to lead the Biological and Environmental Sciences Directorate (BESD) at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The appointment is effective July 1.
As associate laboratory director, Keller will integrate the directorate's biological capabilities with high-performance computing, nanotechnology and catalysis with a thrust toward integrating ecological and molecular environmental research in climate and carbon modeling.
He came to ORNL from the Diversa Corporation in San Diego, Calif., where he directed new technology development and high-throughput screening. At ORNL, he has previously served as director of BESD's Biosciences Division and as director of the BioEnergy Science Center.
ORNL Director Thom Mason said Keller has been instrumental in one of the DOE's most visible and progressing programs.
"Through his leadership of the BioEnergy Science Center, Martin has demonstrated his ability to apply the laboratory's broad range of resources to an important energy mission. In the years ahead we will have a unique chance to integrate ecological and molecular environmental research with our strengths in climate and carbon modeling," Mason said.
Keller, a native of Germany, earned his doctorate in microbiology at the University of Regensburg, Germany.
Keller succeeds Gary Jacobs, who served as the BESD interim director over the past nine months. Jacobs will return to his position as director of the Environmental Sciences Division.
Keller, his wife, Sibylle, and three children live on a farm in Knoxville.
UT-Battelle manages Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the Department of Energy.