Long-awaited director for OSTP announced, science community excited

After a record-long delay, President Donald Trump this week announced his intent to nominate a director for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy — Kelvin Droegemeier, who is the current secretary of science and technology for the state of Oklahoma. The announcement has generated excitement within the science and tech community, and C. Michael Carolina, executive director of the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) called Droegemeier the “perfect choice.”

“As a fellow Oklahoman and someone who has worked closely with Kelvin Droegemeier for the last 10 years, I am thrilled about his selection as the next director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP),” Carolina said. “Dr. Droegemeier is the consummate professional who is nationally renowned as a research scientist, educator and administrator. Having served in numerous high-level positons — both nationally and at the state level — he is the perfect choice for the position and he will no doubt help forge greater collaboration between government, industry and academia that will result in the advancement of technology and technology policy to ensure that our country remains the global leader in science and technology. He is an excellent communicator, visionary and possesses the interpersonal skills to reach consensus on the best approach to solve problems. Under Dr. Droegemeier’s leadership of OSTP, there are exciting things ahead for science and technology in the United States of America.”

Droegemeier currently serves as the vice president for research and regent’s professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. He also co-founded and directed NSF’s Science and Technology Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms and the NSF Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere.  Droegemeier served two six-year terms (four years as vice chairman) on the National Science Board, under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He earned his B.S. in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and M.S. and Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.