Obama Adds Another Heavy-Hitter to His Team

Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco has been added to Obama’s growing cabinet. Lubchenco, a marine biologist, will head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Along with wanting to curb overfishing, Lubchenco has also been a voice for curbing greenhouse admissions that contribute to global warming, reports the Washington Post. Her appointment will put the NOAA in a rank of prestige, as Lubchenco is a member of the National Academy and the Royal Society, of America and England respectively.

In the Post, Andrew Rosenberg, an NOAA deputy director under Clinton, said, “It’s saying that science agencies have a role in policy. They need to be tightly connected, and I believe they will be tightly connected under Jane.”

>>Read more about Obama’s appointments at Green Options

A Little More About Lubchenco:

• Grew up in Colorado

• Has taught at Harvard University

• Won a MacArthur Fellowship - a distinguished award in the field of marine biology

• Founded the Aldo Leopold Leadership Program to teach environmental scientists to be leaders in communicating their results to the public

• Served as the president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1997-1998

• Would be the first woman to hold the position in the NOAA

Quote:

“If society wishes to avoid catastrophic disruption of our lives, the time for action is now. Individual citizens are powerful agents of change, but communities, businesses, the state and the federal government will need to do their part.” -Jane Lubchenco

More about the NOAA

The NOAA has a budget of about $4 billion to study the ocean, atmosphere and global warming. It’s divided into the National Ocean Service, the National Weather Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Lubchenco has previously criticized the NOAA for not doing enough in the last division to curb fishing. The administration is potent in Lubchenco’s state of Oregon, where Northwest salmon and steelhead are fished and where logging and hydroelectric dams play a big role, says The Oregonian.

Photo Credit: Daniel Heaf at Flickr under a Creative Commons License

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