NCSE Lauds Obama Science Picks Washington, DC December 18, 2008
The National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) congratulates President-elect Barack Obama on his choice of leading environmental and energy scientists to key positions in his Administration. NCSE congratulates Steven Chu, John Holdren and Jane Lubchenco on their likely appointments. [Note that Jane is a past-President of the Ecological Society of America]
The President-elect has already nominated a Nobel-prize winning physicist, Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy. Chu, presently director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California earned a Nobel Prize in physics for his work to develop methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light. He was also a member of the National Academies' committee that in 2005 produced the report "Rising Above a Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future" that recommended investment in developing America's talent pool in science, math and technology as a key to our national competitiveness. The headline in The Washington Post on Dr. Chu's appointment stated, "Concern for Climate Change Defines Energy Dept. Nominee" (Dec 12, 2008). He co-chaired the Inter-Academy Council report, "Lighting the Way: Toward a Sustainable Energy Future".
Science Magazine is reporting that John P. Holdren will be the announced as the next presidential science advisor and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (see: http://blogs.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider ). John P. Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy in the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He is also Professor of Environmental Science and Public Policy in Harvard's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. Dr. Holdren, a past president of AAAS, a MacArthur Fellow and one of the world's leading experts on energy and climate presented the John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture at NCSE's 8th National Conference on Science Policy and the Environment: Climate Change: Science and Solutions this past January. Holdren's lecture: Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge is available online at www.ncseonline.org/conference/Chafeeo8final.PDF
The Washington Post is reporting that Jane Lubchenco will be named as the Administrator of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere. See http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/12/18/lubchenco_will_helm_national_o.html Dr. Lubchenco, Wayne and Gladys Valley Professor of Marine Biology and Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Oregon State University is one of the nationâs leading marine biologists. She is a former member of the National Science Board, past president of AAAS, the International Council for Science (ICSU), and the Ecological Society of America, and a MacArthur Fellow. Dr. Lubchenco founded the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program that teaches outstanding academic environmental scientists to be effective leaders and communicators of scientific information, COMPASS, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea, a collaboration among academic scientists, communication and media specialists that communicates academic marine conservation science to policy makers, the media, managers and the public. One of the world's leading ecologists and conservation biologists, Dr. Lubchenco spoke at NCSE's first National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment, Improving the Scientific Basis of Environmental Decisionmaking in December 2000.
NCSE Executive Director, Dr. Peter Saundry commented, "It bodes very well for President-elect Obama's commitment to science-based decisionmaking on environmental issues that he is selecting leading scientists and National Academy members for these key positions. Drs. Chu, Holdren, and Lubchenco will help to galvanize the involvement of the scientific community in helping the Administration to lead on rapid global climate change and loss of biological diversity two of the biggest challenges facing life on planet Earth. NCSE is ready to help in any way that we can."
