Teresa Fryberger recently joined the U.S. Department of Energy’s Environmental Management (EM) program to serve as the associate deputy assistant secretary (ADAS) for the Office of Science and Technology. As ADAS, Fryberger manages OST’s national research and development program, which applies innovative environmental cleanup technologies to solve EM’s highest-priority cleanup problems. She brings to her new position a rich background in scientific inquiry and management of national environmental science programs in the federal government as well as the private sector.

Fryberger is no stranger to OST. In the early days of the program and in her career, Fryberger was OST’s first program manager for the Efficient Separations Crosscutting Program, which addresses chemical separations and processing needs for radioactive waste treatment and environmental restoration. Because this activity has applications in multiple problem areas, she gained an in-depth understanding of the gamut of environmental problems at DOE sites.

Most recently, Fryberger served as the associate laboratory director for the Energy, Environment, and National Security Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory. As head of three science departments at BNL, she managed a diverse program in environmental sciences, energy sciences, national security, as well as applied chemistry and materials science.

Prior to the Brookhaven position, Fryberger was a senior manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. As senior deputy director of PNNL’s William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, she was responsible for managing environmental science programs and providing strategic direction for the overall management of this then-new national scientific user facility.

An early position was as an associate editor at Science, and she started her career as a research chemist and National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute for Science and Technology.

She’s a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Physical Society, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Fryberger has organized and chaired over 50 national and international meetings of professional societies, DOE, and technical organizations and has served on numerous advisory and review committees (including the Environmental Management Advisory Board and the National Academy of Sciences) for national laboratories, DOE, and universities. She earned her Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Northwestern University and her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma.

Fryberger brings new energy to the OST program as well as extensive knowledge of EM program needs. Her priorities for OST include strategic planning, scientific excellence, and continuing to strengthen the program’s partnership with environmental problem holders. Look for an interview with Fryberger in a future issue of Initiatives to hear her thoughts and plans for OST.

Fryberger and her family currently live in New York state and plan to relocate to the D.C. area this summer.