The National Science Foundation has been without a director for more than a year.
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The head of one of the world’s largest science societies urged leaders of a Senate committee Thursday to hold an open confirmation hearing on whether to confirm President Trump’s proposed National Science Foundation director, Jim O’Neill. The agency has been without a director since last April.
“It has been two years since China surpassed the United States in total dollars spent on research and development, and it has been one year since we have had any clarity on America’s vision by a Senate-confirmed Director of NSF,” Sudip S. Parikh, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and executive publisher of the Science journals, wrote in a letter to leaders of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “There is no time left to waste.”
The Trump administration said back in February that O’Neill would be its nominee, but the position requires Senate confirmation.
