NASA's chief scientist is slated to become a top aide at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). President George W. Bush will soon nominate neuroscientist Kathie Olsen (below) to be OSTP's associate director for science. If confirmed by the Senate, she will be one of two top assistants to OSTP chief John Marburger. Olsen has been NASA's top scientist since 1999 and spent more than a decade at the National Science Foundation.
CREDIT: NASA
Bruce Tarter, for 7 years director of the Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, announced last week that he will step aside once a replacement is found. Tarter is credited with steering Livermore, a mainstay of the nation's nuclear weapons complex, through the end of the Cold War, forging new roles in supercomputing and environmental research. But his tenure was marred by massive cost overruns in the National Ignition Facility, a giant laser, and last year he was denied a pay raise.
