As Nicky Fox takes over leadership of NASA's Science Mission Directorate from Thomas Zurbuchen, she inherits an ambitious project portfolio that is beginning to strain against resource limitations.

The Senate has confirmed Arati Prabhakar as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, clearing her to also take up the role of President Biden’s chief adviser on science and technology.

Arati Prabhakar’s nomination to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has advanced to the Senate floor for a final vote.

President Biden’s nominee to lead the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has maintained a career-long focus on applications-oriented R&D and is an ardent advocate for applying the Advanced Research Projects Agency model to national problems.

The House Science Committee is pressing the Biden administration to seek significantly higher budgets for the Department of Energy Office of Science, arguing in particular that funding levels requested for science facility construction projects would cause them to fall behind schedule and incur additional costs.

David Applegate, a longtime U.S. Geological Survey official who has been nominated to lead the agency, discussed critical mineral supply chains and carbon sequestration with senators at his nomination hearing last month.

Mechanical engineer Evelyn Wang is on track to be confirmed as director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, having received bipartisan praise from the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director and Presidential Science Advisor Eric Lander resigned yesterday after staff members went public with complaints that he had created an atmosphere of intimidation at OSTP through flagrant verbal abuse.

NASA has chosen Earth scientist Kate Calvin to serve in the dual roles of chief scientist and senior climate advisor, bringing new visibility to the agency’s efforts to monitor and mitigate climate change.

In filling his administration’s science policy jobs, President Biden has now named nominees for all but a few top positions in the White House and federal agencies. That record roughly matches the pace set by most other presidents of the last half-century and is much faster than President Trump’s historically slow appointment process.