Plugging Holes

doi:10.1126/science.295.5561.1811c

Account Information

Guest Alerts | Access Rights | My Account | Sign In

ScienceScope

NASA finally has a chief of biological and physical research--and soon may have a chief financial officer too.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe named Mary Kicza to the research job 4 March after a nearly 2-year, unsuccessful hunt for a prominent outside researcher (Science, 12 May 2000, p. 938). Kicza, an electrical engineer with a master's in business administration, was associate center director at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and was responsible for coordinating earth and space science efforts. Kicza's lack of a biological or physical research background, however, is sure to raise eyebrows in the life and microgravity sciences community. O'Keefe's statement tries to parry that anticipated criticism by noting that Kicza has managed a diverse portfolio of research agendas for 2 decades. She will work closely with Shannon Lucid, a shuttle veteran recently named NASA's chief scientist.

O'Keefe also is likely to soon name Steve Isakowitz to the space agency's top budget slot. Isakowitz is currently an influential civil servant at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he oversees science and space programs. He has been quietly skeptical of NASA's outer planets exploration program and space station research efforts--two issues he will now tackle from the inside.

O'Keefe also named Frederick Gregory as the agency's chief of space flight. The longtime astronaut will oversee the troubled space station program.