On December 10, 2008, US president-elect Barack Obama, who places great importance on energy policy and advocates major efforts to develop alternative energy sources, announced that he was asking Steven Chu, currently director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to become secretary of energy. This makes Chu only the second American of Chinese ancestry to be given a cabinet post, after current Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.
12 月 10 日，重視能源政策、主張大力發展替代能源的美國總統當選人歐巴馬，宣佈邀請現為「勞倫斯柏克萊國家實驗室」（Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory）主任的朱棣文出任能源部部長，這是繼現任勞工部長趙小蘭之後，第二位出任美國內閣首長的華裔人士。