 From March 14, 2002 until mid-2009, Orbach was Director of the Office of Science at the Department of Energy, making him the highest ranking science policy administrator within the DOE.After June 1, 2006, he was the first Under Secretary for Science, for which President George W. Bush nominated him after the position was created by the Energy Policy Act of 2005.On August 1, 2009 he became the founding director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.