Lieuwen, who is also a professor of aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech, will serve on the council of about 20 people that advises the secretary on matters relating to oil and natural gas.

The council includes members with interests and expertise in the oil and gas industries as well as representatives from academic, research, Native American and financial fields. The NPC conducts studies based on specific requests from the energy secretary and renders reports to the government as a public service after they are transmitted to the secretary.

Lieuwen is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Lawrence Sperry Award, the ASME Westinghouse Silver medal and the National Science Foundation CAREER award, among others.

He has served on a variety of major panels and committees through the National Research Council, NASA, the General Accounting Office and the Department of Defense. In addition, Lieuwen is editor-in-chief of the AIAA Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics series. More details are available in Liewen's full bio.

The NPC is a federally chartered and privately funded advisory committee that was established by the Secretary of the Interior in 1946 at the request of President Harry Truman. In 1977, the U.S. Department of Energy was established and the NPC's functions were transferred to the new department.