But something seems to have gone wrong in the selection process.
Kelvin Droegemeier seems to be a competent meterologist, accused of no crimes. There are serious questions as to whether he can fit in at the White House.
Compounding the problem is that he has advocated for “Balanced, predictable and stable funding” of science to keep the United States leading position in science.
Most science advisors in the past have been physicists, but now that global warming is becoming obvious, a meterologist may be a good choice. Drogemeyer has served on the National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation, under presidents Obama and George W. Bush. He is an expert on extreme weather.
The president’s science advisor advises on all sorts of things, including nuclear weapons issues, funding for universities, extreme weather events, and science issues in commerce. He also interacts with the scientific community, so he needs to grow a thick skin in this anti-science administration.
Everything I’ve seen about him is good. That can change, of course, and there is no guarantee that the president will listen to him any more than he does any other advisor.
Good luck, Kelvin Droegemeier!
And open thread.
Pulled this one back when I saw I bigfooted Doug.
Edited to correct the spelling of Droegemeier’s last name.
Gravenstone
Kelvin seems an appropriate name for a scientist. I’m sure he’s heard all the jokes.
Scott
Given current political scandals, I don’t think we can use the word “Bigfooted” anymore.
Shantanu Saha
@Gravenstone: Hopefully he can take the temperature of the scientific community and limit the entropy of this administration.
Elizabelle
I don’t think you need to pull this blogpost. We can discuss more than one topic, and it’s nice to have variety.
Elizabelle
Where did the Amazon ad go?
p.a.
Does he need to be confirmed/has he been confirmed? Maybe I-Huff (R-exxon) will shoot him down.
Amir Khalid
This may be the rare Trump administration appointment that’s on the up and up, but this President doesn’t listen to advisors. I’m not optimistic that the new science advisor can make a difference.
Mai Naem mobile
I give him three Scaramuccis. A personal scandal emerging may buy him two more Scaramuccis. A financial scandal emerging will buy him at least four Scaramuccis.
Amir Khalid
@p.a.:
I don’t think so. As I recall, Senate confirmation is required only for Secretaries and agency heads.
Cheryl Rofer
@Amir Khalid: The Nature article says he has to be confirmed by the Senate.
Mike G
The president’s science advisor advises on all sorts of things, including nuclear weapons issues, funding for universities, extreme weather events, and science issues in commerce.
All subjects where Trump no doubt proclaims himself to be the most knowledgeable guy on the face of the earth and has his mind made up already, so Drogemeyer won’t have much to do. How do you act as advisor for someone who is too arrogant to listen to any advice?
Brachiator
He seems competent. How did he slip through?
West of the Rockies
@Mike G:
My thought exactly. Trump may even have picked the guy to give the illusion of caring about science and putting a semi-progressive person in an important slot.
But Trump will listen to him no more than He did the ethics advisor who resigned in protest some months ago.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Willingness to go to bat in support of Trump’s incompetent NASA pick.
Does not bode well, regardless of prior reputation.
Michael Cain
@Amir Khalid: As I recall, Senate confirmation is required only for Secretaries and agency heads.
There are on the order of 700 positions that require the President to nominate and the Senate to confirm. Trump has been slow on nominations, and the Senate dragging its feet on confirmations, so there are still a fair number of openings.
momus
Quiz: If >90% of crank physicists are male engineers with advanced degrees what percentage of male meteorologists are crank climatologists?
a = all of them, Momus
b = most them, Momus
c = a weatherman is a scientist?
Bill Arnold
@momus:
Well, there’s this: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=yASEHfYAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Looks sorta like a scientist to me.
Kayla Rudbek
Hell, I’m surprised that Iancu at the USPTO hasn’t had any dirt come out on him yet. We shall see what happens