Vol 457|1 January 2009 NEWS Obama’s picks underline climate focus Strong roles for biologists as the president-elect chooses his science and technology team.

John Holdren, a leading voice on Holdren’s appointment quickly won praise meant to guide energy policy, including one that at , will serve as science from other academics. “He’s competent and promoted a move away from coal and towards adviser to US president-elect . at the forefront of so many fields,” says Ralph nuclear energy and renewables, says Charles And , a strong advocate of Cicerone, an atmospheric scientist and presi- Vest, president of the National Academy of marine conservation at Oregon State University dent of the National Academy of Sciences in Engineering. “All of the things that you expect in Corvallis, will head the National Oceanic and Washington DC. “He’s encyclopaedic, he’s quick in 2008 — but that you might not have seen on Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). and he’s deep.” Representative Vernon Ehlers the agenda about a decade ago,” says Vest. Holdren, as is normal for US science advis- (Republican, Michigan), a physicist, adds: “He’s For another PCAST report, Holdren ers, has a background in . At the time of an excellent choice, a good scientist, and I think delivered a solo presentation to Clinton on his appointment, two eminent biologists were he will serve the president and the non-proliferation strategy in named to co-chair the President’s Council of country well.” “He knows what he the early era of post-Soviet Rus- Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) Holdren also directs the doesn’t know, and he sia, says Gibbons. “It was very with him. One will be Harold Varmus, the Woods Hole Research Center in knows who to ask.” coherent, expert — it answered former director of the National Institutes of Falmouth, Massachusetts. Now the question authoritatively,” he Health, who led Obama’s science advisory team an environmental-policy specialist, in his early says. “That ultimately led to a US position on during the campaign. The other is Eric Lander, career he worked as an engineer at Lockheed plutonium disposition a couple of weeks later founding director of the Broad Institute in Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale, when the president went to Moscow.” Holdren’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, who helped lead California, and as a fusion scientist at the Law- understanding of how the White House works the push to sequence the human genome. rence Livermore National Laboratory, also in will serve him well, says Neal Lane, another Together, these appointments underscore California. He worked on nuclear weapons former Clinton science adviser. how Obama is choosing experienced aca- and non- proliferation issues while chairman demics for positions in government once he of the executive committee for the Pugwash Rare skill becomes president on 20 January. Conferences on Science and World Affairs — In recent years, Holdren has been a tireless If confirmed by the Senate, Holdren will a familiarity with this issue that is in keeping advocate for improving US energy policy, replace as head of the Office with past science advisers. “He is comfortably travelling the world and lecturing on science’s of Science and (OSTP), in the same sort of mould that we’ve had for role in sustainability. He has said that reading which helps set research agendas and many decades,” says John Gibbons, a science The Challenge of Man’s Future by Harrison budgets across multiple federal agencies. adviser to President , “except for the Brown — which looked at the science of Holdren will also hold the title of Assistant unusual extent in the depth of his involvement sustainability — in high school set him on a to the President for Science and Technology; in the process of science in government.” path to working on the intersection between this is seen by some as a clear step up from the Holdren is no stranger to Washington, science, technology and society. He has even title Marburger enjoys, Science Advisor to the having served on the PCAST to Clinton. In that appeared on David Letterman’s late-night show President (see 455, 453; 2008). capacity, he chaired a number of major reports to discuss the science of global warming. Daniel Schrag, a climate scientist and Harvard colleague, says that Holdren’s wide- ranging interests belie his depth of knowledge in a number of areas. “John has a remarkable ability to survey vast areas of scientific infor- mation and distil them down to their essence — K. SRAKOCIC /AP PHOTO /AP K. SRAKOCIC that’s a very rare skill,” says Schrag. “He knows what he doesn’t know, and he knows who to ask.” Schrag also says that Holdren is skilled at getting people from different backgrounds together; as co-chairman of the National Commission on Energy Policy, Holdren led a bipartisan group including business and indus- try leaders to produce a document in 2004 on how to “end the energy stalemate”. Holdren understands that fixing climate change comes with big costs, says Schrag. His familiarity with , the former Harvard president who will head the National Economic Council, might help him to that end. One unresolved question is how all the Looking to the future: John Holdren, has long pushed for changes to US energy policy. climate and energy specialists in the Obama

10 © 2009 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved NATURE|Vol 457|1 January 2009 NEWS

POLITICAL MELTDOWN Canadian scientists face uncertain future. www.nature.com/news Universities struggle as J. LUBCHENCO J. value of endowments falls

Some large research In some ways, the big universities have universities have suffered been a victim of their own success. As double-digit declines in endowments experienced double-digit their multibillion-dollar increases nearly every year through the endowments since the 1990s and 2000s, universities have become autumn credit crunch and ever more dependent on them in their stock market collapse. overall budgets — even as endowment The endowments have payouts remained roughly constant also become increasingly cash-poor at around 5% per year. Ten years ago, Marine star: Jane Lubchenco will run the National precisely when they might be expected Harvard’s endowment paid for a third of Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. to compensate for downward pressures the operating budget of the school of arts on academic budgets. The declines and sciences; now it covers more than half administration might work together. Nobel- are presenting universities with tough of the $1.16-billion budget. prizewinning physicist Steven Chu will head choices: fire sales of endowment assets, Endowments are suffering now partly the Department of Energy; former Environ- or budgetary trimming in the form of because of the very investment methods mental Protection Agency chief pay cuts, freezes on hiring and deferred they used to beat the broader markets year is in a new White House position overseeing construction projects. after year. Universities with endowments climate and energy policy. “It’ll all have to be “It’s a very big problem,” says John bigger than $1 billion — there were 76 coordinated very carefully,” says Lane. Walda, president of the National of them in the United States in 2007, Lubchenco, like Holdren, is a past president Association of College and University according to NACUBO — kept much of of the American Association for the Advance- Business Officers (NACUBO) in their money in more volatile ‘alternative’ ment of Science. A marine ecologist, she has Washington DC. “A good number [of investments that are ‘illiquid’, or difficult spoken out against overfishing and done endowments] are seeing about a 30% to convert into cash quickly, such as hedge research in the hypoxic, or dead, zones that can decline since last year.” funds and venture capital. By comparison, be caused in some areas by fertilizer run-off. As Harvard University announced in institutions with endowments of less than head of NOAA she will have jurisdiction over December that its endowment, the world’s $25 million had a nearly opposite, more a wide range of issues including the National largest and worth $36.9 billion at mid-year, conservative approach, with much of Marine Fisheries Service and the National had dropped 22% from that amount by the their money being kept in cash and Weather Service. end of November — with worse expected fixed-income assets (see chart). Dealing with fisheries “will be one of her to come. As of mid-December, the world’s John Nelson, an analyst with Moody’s in major challenges”, says John Byrne, who headed second-largest endowment, that of Yale New York, says the alternative-investment NOAA during the administration of Ronald University, had fallen 25% since mid-year, approach is smart: even in the bear market,

Reagan and is a former president of Oregon when it stood at $22.9 billion. when share prices are falling, the stock ▼ State University. Industry groups are wary of her pro-conservation stances, but Byrne thinks US UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENTS: A breakdown of asset classes that Lubchenco is up to the challenge of run- ning the agency. “It needs someone to respond Universities with investments Universities with investments greater than $1 billion of $25 million or less

to issues such as climate change, pressure on NACUBO SOURCE: coastal zones, ocean pollution and over-fishing in a firm way. She will do that,” he says. Another appointment in Obama’s environ- mental team is Ken Salazar, a Democratic senator from Colorado, to head the Department of the Interior. Salazar is known as a middle-of-the- roader who has protested against Bush adminis- tration plans to expand oil-shale development in the American west, but who has also supported offshore drilling. The agency oversees the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which has been buf- feted in recent years over its handling of species Equity Fixed income Cash Real estate listings under the Endangered Species Act. ■ Eric Hand and Alexandra Witze, with Hedge funds Private equity Venture capital Other additional reporting by Ashley Yeager.

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