Science and Academic Groups Implore Trump to Name White House Adviser

The week before the presidential election, Scientific American magazine published a list of comments from Republican candidate Donald Trump that the editors deemed “shockingly ignorant” on such topics as climate change, fracking, the Ebola virus and vaccines.

Now, three weeks after Trump’s victory, leaders of 29 scientific and academic research groups have sent Trump a letter urging him to appoint a "nationally respected leader with appropriate engineering, scientific, management and policy skills” to serve as assistant to the president for science and technology.

The letter to Trump’s F Street Northwest transition office in Washington also requested a meeting with the Trump transition team. It was signed by such groups as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, the American Geophysical Union, the American Institute of Physics, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Sociological Association, the Association of American Universities, and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

It stressed the economic benefits of investing in science and technology research. “We know that one of your top priorities will be to focus on ensuring that the U.S. economy remains strong and continues to grow,” the groups stated. “If we are to maintain America’s global leadership, and respond to the economic and security challenges currently facing the nation, we must build on our strong history of federal support for innovation, entrepreneurship and science and technology.”

Former Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., now CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in September worked with Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and others in writing science-related recommendations for the next president, released at the National Press Club.

Under the Obama White House, John Holdren is assistant to the president for science and technology, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and co-chair of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.