Kelvin Droegemeier
Sue Ogrocki/Associated Press
By Jeffrey Mervis
Last night the U.S. Senate confirmed Kelvin Droegemeier as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). But this morning the meteorologist remains at home in Norman, Oklahoma, weathering a winter storm and hoping to learn more about his status from his political bosses.
An emeritus professor and former vice president for research at the University of Oklahoma, Droegemeier was nominated by President Donald Trump on 31 July to lead OSTP, which coordinates science policy across the federal government. A Senate panel approved Droegemeier’s nomination this past summer, and his was one of several nominations that the whole Senate took up in the waning hours of the 115thCongress. His appointment was approved by voice vote.
Droegemeier is a former vice chair of the National Science Board, the oversight body of the National Science Foundation, and has long been active on national research policy. U.S. academic leaders are hopeful that he will provide them with the type of access to White House science policymaking that has been absent since Trump took office.
OSTP is one of several federal agencies that are impacted bythe current partial government shutdownand has only a handful of essential employees on board. Droegemeier has been spending time at OSTP as an advisor since the Senate committee voted out his nomination in early September. But he returned to Oklahoma for the holidays, before the shutdown began on 22 December, and he’s awaiting word today about when he can officially begin work.
Source: Science Mag