Trump’s Pick for Science Advisor Dodges Climate Change Question

In a hearing with Senators, meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier avoided climate change questions by saying it wasn’t his expertise.

Written byJef Akst

| 2 min read

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Update (January 3, 2019): Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Kelvin Droegemeier as the White House science advisor, Nature reports.

Kelvin Droegemeier, President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, didn’t get into the controversy of climate change skepticism yesterday (August 23). At his nomination hearing with a Senate committee, the expert of extreme weather events skirted questions pertaining to climate change, saying that he didn’t study climate.

Andy Dressler, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University, was disappointed by Droegemeier’s answers, but not surprised. “This administration was never going to pick someone like John Holdren”—former head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) who was outspoken about the realities of climate change—“to be the president’s science adviser,” Dressler tells Science. “They want someone who is going to toe the line [on climate policy].”

Meteorologist David Titley, director of the Center for Solutions ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
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Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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