Trump Announces Appointments to Science Team

On December 22, President-elect Trump announced on Truth Social his picks for top White House science positions. Michael Kratsios, an alum of the first Trump Administration, will be nominated as Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Kratsios previously served as Trump’s Chief Technology Officer and later as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in DOD. Kratsios will also serve as Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, known commonly as the President’s Science Advisor. The OSTP position requires Senate confirmation, but the Science Advisor does not. Kratsios holds a BA in politics from Princeton University. If confirmed, he would replace Arati Prabhakar as OSTP Director.

Trump also named Lynne Parker as Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology (PCAST), and Counselor to the OSTP Director. As previously reported, PCAST will be chaired by tech venture capitalist David Sacks. Parker, a computer scientist, previously served as Deputy Chief Technology Officer and Founding Director of the National Artificial Intelligence Initiative Office in the first Trump Administration.