Female Energy Secretary Claps Back After Nevada Governor Questions Whether She 'Actually Understands' Science

Drew Angerer/Getty; Ethan Miller/Getty Jennifer Granholm (left), Joe Lombardo

Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm offered a subtle dig at newly elected Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo after the Republican questioned whether she "actually" understood the science behind battery recycling at an event on Thursday.

Granholm — who has served as the nation's energy secretary since 2021 — and Lombardo both spoke at an event announcing a $2 billion green energy grant from the Biden administration for a Nevada-based battery recycling company, which will help the U.S. establish its own electric-vehicle supply chain in its fight against climate change.

Following Granholm's remarks at the podium, Lombardo, a Republican, praised what he called a "science lesson," but added: "Do you actually understand this science or do you just memorize that?"

After the moment began making the rounds on social media, Granholm, 64, offered a thinly veiled response on Twitter.

"Big words can be intimidating, I understand. All the Governor needs to know is that $2 BILLION and thousands of good-paying jobs are coming to Nevada thanks to @POTUS," Granholm wrote.

Granholm — who is the second woman to lead the Department of Energy — is a graduate of both the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard Law School, where she received a Juris Doctor and served as editor-in-chief of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review.

She previously served as the governor of Michigan (and, before that, as the state's attorney general).

Since taking her role a a Cabinet secretary, Granholm has been vocal about her goal of attracting more women and more people of color to STEM fields.

RELATED: Zoom Get-Togethers, Dinners with Mayor Pete and a New Grandkid: How Jennifer Granholm Is Adjusting to D.C.

Official White House Photo by Cameron Smith Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm

"The STEM workforce is heavily white and it's heavily male. Black and Hispanic Americans hold just eight or 9 percent of all STEM jobs respectively. And women only make up 15 percent of the nations' engineers and architects," she told PEOPLE in 2021. "Because of that, it could and has created blind spots around research and development."

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer.

Speaking about her own career, Granholm previously told PEOPLE that she believes seeing more women in leadership positions will one day become the norm.

"Ultimately, we want to get to a place where breaking a glass ceiling means that somebody threw a rock through your sunroof. It should be boring that we have women in all these positions," she says. "And I'm so glad that this administration is making it the norm, so that the next generation doesn't have to worry about that. They can just do their work, and change the world."