Here’s who could become one of Trump’s top science and tech advisers

More than a year after entering the White House, President Donald Trump still has not selected his top science and technology adviser, leaving unfilled a critical policy post that guides the administration on issues as varied as artificial intelligence,  climate change and cancer research. While the White House maintains that it is unconstrained in its work — and has staffed up to tackle such challenges as closing the country’s Internet-access gaps — the vacancy still troubles policy experts, who believe that President Trump would be best served by someone who could double as an emissary to the academic and engineering worlds.

Technically, the White House has two major science and technology posts. The first is the director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which has a broad remit that includes coordinating the country’s vast federal research budget. The second is the assistant to the president on science and technology, a title that is supposed to afford its bearer access to the person occupying the Oval Office. Often, those roles are held by the same person, and under Obama, the responsibilities fell to John Holdren for eight years. Since Holdren's departure, the posts have remained vacant. But President Trump's aides have actively sought new leadership for months. One of the candidates under consideration is Kelvin Droegemeier, an expert in extreme weather and meteorology from the University of Oklahoma, apparently.