The US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation voted unanimously yesterday to approve Kelvin Droegemeier's nomination to be director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, Nature News reports.
President Donald Trump nominated Droegemeier, a meteorologist at the University of Oklahoma, over the summer to take the science advisor post, which has been vacant since Trump took office. That empty spot had raised concerns that the administration was not receiving adequate science advice.
At the time of Droegemeier's nomination, John Holdren, who led OSTP during the Obama Administration, told Nature that Droegemeier was a "very solid choice" and that he was "a respected senior scientist and he has experience in speaking science to power."
According to Nature News now, Senator Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) notes that lawmakers had received numerous endorsements for Droegemeier. "I think it's safe to say that the research community is eager for this committee to quickly confirm the nominee," he says.
As Nature News notes, Droegemeier still faces a full Senate vote, which is slated to occur later this month.