Kelvin Droegemeier is the new acting director of the US National Science Foundation, the agency has announced.
Droegemeier, a meteorologist formerly at the University of Oklahoma, currently serves as the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, a post to which President Donald Trump nominated him in 2018. He was confirmed by the Senate in early 2019.
"I am honored to serve in this acting capacity for NSF, and it is a homecoming of sorts as a former member of the National Science Board and longtime recipient of grants from NSF," Droegemeier says in a statement. He previously served two six-year terms on the National Science Board.
Droegemeier notes in his statement that his position is a temporary one. In December, President Trump announced he would be nominating Arizona State University's Sethuraman Panchanathan to be the next NSF director, as the term of France Córdova, the outgoing director of NSF, has expired. Panchanathan is awaiting Senate confirmation.