There’s a glaring hole in the president’s new science and tech council
U.S. President Donald Trump has named 13 people to his panel of science advisers — and all but one is a leading technology executive. The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology now includes a single university researcher and at least nine billionaires.
Among the new members are Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta, the parent company of Facebook; Larry Ellison, the executive chairman of software giant Oracle; and Sergey Brin, the co-founder of Google. There are also chief executives of tech hardware companies — Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, Lisa Su of Advanced Microdevices and Michael Dell of Dell Technologies. The corporate chiefs have a combined wealth in excess of US$900 billion. Three of the chief executives have earned PhDs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. Su’s degree is in electrical engineering. Jacob DeWitte and Bob Mumgaard, who both head nuclear-energy start-up firms, have degrees in nuclear engineering and applied plasma physics, respectively.. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Laura Greene, a physicist at Florida State University in Tallahassee and a member of PCAST during the administration of president Joseph Biden, praised Martinis and Su as being “outstanding, both in science and technology”. But others are critical of the committee’s make-up. “Not a single biologist and only one university researcher on PCAST,” Vaughan Cooper, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, said in. “This leaves the country unbelievably ill prepared for an age of biotechnology, a race we are already beginning to lose.”, he could name as many as 11 more members to the committee, says Kenny Evans at Rice University in Houston, Texas, who is a specialist in science policy and co-founder of the White House Scientists Archive.Networking and Information Technology Research and Development initiative . Most of PCAST's work is done by subcommittees, and its reports are largely prepared by staff from the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federally funded research and development centre in Washington DC. During Trump’s first term, from 2017 to 2021, PCAST had 13 members excluding the chair — 7 academic scientists and 6 people from industry. Under Biden, whose term ran from 2021 to 2024, it had 28 members , 19 of whom were academic researchers, with the remaining 9 from industry and the government. Aside from the PCASTs appointed by Trump, every PCAST since 2001 has had at least 10 members who were academic researchers. The new PCAST members’ backgrounds are no surprise, says Evans. “Historically, PCAST’s membership reflects the president’s science and tech priorities,” he says. “This group is about what you would expect from the Trump administration — a handful of billionaires and tech executives with expertise narrowly focused on AI, quantum and nuclear fusion.”by 2050, and a merger was announced in December between nuclear-fusion company TAE Technologies and a firm co-owned by Trump.. On the social-media platform X, Kratsios announced the new council, saying that “PCAST unites America’s brightest minds to advise the President on the most pressing national issues in science and technology” and that it will “focus on the opportunities and challenges that emerging technologies present to the American worker and how to best ensure the U.S. continues to lead in the Golden Age of Innovation.”has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too., you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
President Trump to Speak at NRCC Fundraising Dinner; Union Station Adjustments and DC History Panel AnnouncedPresident Trump will address the NRCC fundraising dinner, while Washington Union Station adjusts operations for a special event, and a historic panel on DC government is announced.
Read more »
Musk attorney demands probe into jury bias after panel allegedly ‘mocked’ processFox News Channel offers its audiences in-depth news reporting, along with opinion and analysis encompassing the principles of free people, free markets and diversity of thought, as an alternative to the left-of-center offerings of the news marketplace.
Read more »
Q&A: 'We are asked to participate in normalising a genocide' — Sameerah MunshiMunshi, who recently quit Trump's Religious Liberties panel, tells TRT World the panel shunned pro-Palestine or pro-Muslim voices, adding she decided to resign following dismissal of Catholic member, Carrie Prejean-Boller.
Read more »
2026 Music Sustainability Summit Announces Complete Panel Lineup: ‘A Program To Highlight Practical Solutions’Organizers of the 2026 Music Sustainability Summit announced the complete program lineup.
Read more »
Meta Faces Legal Challenges, AI Regulation Panel FormedMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg meets with senators as the company faces legal challenges regarding its social media platforms, including a $375 million damage order in New Mexico. A tech panel, including Zuckerberg, will advise the president on AI regulation.
Read more »
Ethics panel finds Democratic Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick violated House rulesDemocratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida committed numerous violations of House rules and ethics standards, the House Ethics Committee found.
Read more »