After a more than 560-day vacancy, President Donald Trump announced his pick for White House science advisor. Meteorologist and former vice-chair of the governing board of the U.S. National Science Foundation, Kelvin Droegemeier was named to the post. Noting his “solid conservative credentials” associates said they expect he will advocate for climate science as “he always has.”
“Kelvin is a solid scientist, excellent with people, and with deep experience with large bureaucracies,” said Cliff Mass, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle. “A moderate voice that won’t politicize the science.”
The official position is director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the job includes advising the president on technical issues and overseeing coordination of federal science policy. In 2004, former President George W. Bush named Droegemeier to the National Science Board, which oversees NSF, and President Barack Obama reappointed him in 2011. He served as the board’s vice-chair from 2014 to 2017.