On August 1, the White House announced that President Trump has tapped a University of Oklahoma (OU) weather-climate scientist, Dr. Kelvin Droegemeier, to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), a position that will require Senate confirmation. Historically, the director of OSTP also serves as the president’s science advisor.
This is welcome news indeed. Droegemeier is highly respected by fellow scientists for his research on extreme weather, e.g., the tornados that sweep across Oklahoma and much of the rest of the country, and his work has led to improvements in providing warnings to communities ahead of severe storms. He has taught courses on weather and climate for many years at OU. He is a skilled administrator, having served as OU’s vice president for research for many years and as secretary for science and technology in the governor’s office. He has advised both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations in Washington through his service on the National Science Board, an important arm of the National Science Foundation. He was vice chairman of the board during part of his tenure. I have known and admired Kelvin Droegemeier for many years and consider him an outstanding candidate for this position.
A few months before the presidential election, the Baker Institute released a transition report “The Vital Role of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy,” co-authored by Kirstin Matthews, Kenneth Evans and myself, which offered advice to the next president on the importance of the OSTP, including several specific recommendations for early action by the new administration. Quoting from our report, with regard to the role and importance of OSTP:
A large number of federal agencies do the work of the government, and S&T underpins everything they do. But it is the responsibility of OSTP to ensure the federal S&T effort as a whole is greater than the individual contributions of any one agency. It is the one place in the federal government that focuses on the efficiency and impact of the collective federal S&T effort. OSTP coordinates interagency R&D—including such areas as nanotechnology, climate change, and genomics—while keeping the president and Congress informed on the health of America’s S&T enterprise and how the United States compares in this regard with the rest of the world. Coordination of agencies’ S&T efforts is especially important during times of crisis: disease outbreaks, nuclear accidents, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, and other emergencies when a quick federal response is essential to inform and protect the public.
Droegemeier formally endorsed our report stating, “OSTP is the policy hub of the science and technology research and innovation enterprise, and the importance of its role to our nation is only going to increase as we face ever greater challenges for which science and technology alone can provide answers.”
I was privileged to serve as the director of OSTP for several years in the Clinton administration and can attest that Droegemeier understands as well as anyone in the science community the unique role and importance of OSTP and how the White House works.
However, it has to be recognized that the challenge is enormous. President Trump has not said much about science nor, apparently, does he often seek advice. And the fact that 19 months have passed without naming a science advisor, coupled with a number of policies and other actions, including efforts to deeply cut funding for science and engineering research, suggest science is not a high priority for this administration. It would be unrealistic to expect all that to suddenly change with the appointment of a science advisor. But still, it should be comforting to know that the president’s senior staff will now include someone with outstanding scientific credentials, management skills, unquestioned integrity and a reputation for working with people of all backgrounds, personal agendas and political persuasions.
The future of the American scientific and engineering enterprise depends on strong leadership from inside the White House, and I cannot think of anyone else I would see take the helm at this critical time than Kelvin Droegemeier. I strongly urge Republicans, Democrats and Independents in the Senate to stand together in strong support of Kelvin Droegemeier and quickly confirm him as the next director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Neal F. Lane, Ph.D., is the senior fellow in science and technology policy at the Baker Institute. He is also the Professor of Physics and Astronomy Emeritus at Rice University. Lane served as assistant to the president for science and technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy from August 1998 to January 2001, and he served as director of the National Science Foundation and member (ex officio) of the National Science Board from October 1993 to August 1998. Before his post with NSF, Lane was provost and professor of physics at Rice, a position he had held since 1986.