Pioneering ecologist to head NOAA

[IDemo]

Jane Lubchenco of Oregon State says she's eager to take on issues including global warming, polluted coastal waters and severely depleted fish populations.

The Senate gave its blessing late Thursday to key members of President Obama's science team, including an Oregon State University ecologist who will be the first woman and first marine scientist to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Senate voted unanimously to confirm Harvard physicist John Holdren as Obama's top science advisor and Oregon State ecologist Jane Lubchenco as administrator of NOAA, an agency that conducts much of the nation's climate-change research, forecasts the weather and regulates commercial fishing.

Lubchenco said she was eager to get started because of pressing burdens on the economy and the environment, including global warming, polluted coastal waters and severely depleted fish populations.

"We really don't have a choice," she said in an interview. "We have to move rapidly ahead because of chronic problems that need immediate solutions."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-noaa-chief20-2009mar20,0,373783.story

[jpak]

1. Dr. Lubchenco is an excellent choice for this position

and her research in the dynamics of intertidal communities are classics papers in ecology.

:thumbsup:

[eppur_se_muova]

2. K&R&about time! nt