The Department of Energy is pulling from its own ranks to temporarily fill the first of several impending gaps in IT leadership left by a departing CIO, acting CIO and associate CIO.According to an e-mail sent from deputy secretary Bill Poneman to staff, the agency has selected Bill Turnbull, who's currently associate CIO for advanced technology and systems integration, to take on the role as acting CIO once the current CIO, Tom Pyke, retires later this month.

Turnbull previously served as deputy CIO and director of high performance computing and communications at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where he oversaw supercomputing and network upgrades and moved forward an IT security effort.

Previously rumored to be an interim replacement, Rosio Alvarez, CIO at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will advise agency leadership on transitional issues, including IT transformation within the department. Alvarez was hired as Lawrence Berkeley's CIO by the current secretary of Energy, Steven Chu, when he was director of that lab.

There are still a number of gaps to be filled at Energy. It remains unclear who will now fill Turnbull's post, and who will step in as deputy CIO or associate CIO for cybersecurity.