Jim Wood, former deputy assistant secretary for clean coal in the U.S. Department of Energy, is the new Director for the US-China Clean Energy Research Center for Coal.

In his role with the Energy Department, Wood was responsible for the country’s $4.5-billion Clean Coal Program. He most recently was chairman, president and CEO of ThermoEnergy Corp., a Massachusetts-based company focused on industrial wastewater treatment and power generation technologies.

In his current position, Jim manages ties between industry and academia to advance global clean coal technologies.