In a voice vote, the US Senate has confirmed Cherry Murray as the new head of the Department of Energy's Office of Science, ScienceInsider reports.
Murray, a Harvard University physicist, was nominated to the post in August, following the Senate's failure to act on MIT's Marc Kastner's 2013 nomination for the job.
Indeed, the American Physical Society's Michael Lubell tells the Harvard Crimson that it's "somewhat of a miracle that Cherry Murray's nomination went through." In an email, Murray also tells the Crimson that her confirmation was "a pleasant surprise."
Murray previously told ScienceInsider that if she were confirmed to the post that she would focus on getting the Office of Science's 10 national laboratories and the six others run by other DOE offices to be better coordinated. "The Office of Science manages its labs very well, it's the shining star of DOE," she said. "But they could be better integrated with the other national labs."
Murray also said that, with her at the helm, the Office of Science would focus on basic research.