Filling another Cabinet slot in President Bush's second term, the Senate has confirmed Samuel W. Bodman as secretary of energy. The approval, on Jan. 31 by unanimous consent, came less than two weeks after Bodman's confirmation hearing before the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Bodman succeeds Spencer Abraham as head of the Dept. of Energy.
Bodman has been deputy Treasury secretary since February 2004 and, before that, was deputy secretary of Commerce. He has a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he taught chemical engineering. Later he was president of Fidelity Investments and chairman and CEO of Cabot Corp., a specialty chemical company.