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.

| 2 min read
Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
2:00
Share

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 ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member? Login Here

Keywords

Meet the Author

  • Jef Akst

    Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.
Share
3D illustration of a gold lipid nanoparticle with pink nucleic acid inside of it. Purple and teal spikes stick out from the lipid bilayer representing polyethylene glycol.
February 2025, Issue 1

A Nanoparticle Delivery System for Gene Therapy

A reimagined lipid vehicle for nucleic acids could overcome the limitations of current vectors.

View this Issue
Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

Enhancing Therapeutic Antibody Discovery with Cross-Platform Workflows

sartorius logo
Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Considerations for Cell-Based Assays in Immuno-Oncology Research

Lonza
An illustration of animal and tree silhouettes.

From Water Bears to Grizzly Bears: Unusual Animal Models

Taconic Biosciences
Sex Differences in Neurological Research

Sex Differences in Neurological Research

bit.bio logo

Products

Photo of a researcher overseeing large scale production processes in a laboratory.

Scaling Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing for Optimal Productivity

Thermo Fisher Logo
Collage-style urban graphic of wastewater surveillance and treatment

Putting Pathogens to the Test with Wastewater Surveillance

An illustration of an mRNA molecule in front of a multicolored background.

Generating High-Quality mRNA for In Vivo Delivery with lipid nanoparticles

Thermo Fisher Logo
Tecan Logo

Tecan introduces Veya: bringing digital, scalable automation to labs worldwide