Maria Zuber to serve on 4th White House administration
In addition to Frances Arnold, Maria Zuber will co-chair the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.
This will be her fourth time serving in a White House administration.
"I look forward to continuing to advocate for science and a nonpartisan manner in this new role," said Zuber, who is Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s vice president for research and E. A. Griswold professor of geophysics. "I am thrilled with the challenge and the opportunity to work together with the scientific leadership of this administration to restore trust in science and pursue breakthroughs that benefit all people."
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Zuber said that the work is critical "as the pandemic continues to rage."
Beyond the pandemic, she highlighted other areas of focus for the team, including the "transition to a zero-carbon energy system, our need to create good-paying jobs of the future and other aspects of our existential fight against climate change."
Zuber grew up in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, which she described as once being coal country. Both of her grandparents mined and died of black lung, she said, while noting that communities like hers still haven't recovered long after mining jobs have left.
"I could not be more excited for the efforts of this administration to deploy science to help breathe new life into these places, into so many communities large and small that are hurting today," she said. "Bold scientific leadership will be a critical component of building back better, guarding our health and safety, helping spark new, clean industries, and keeping America competitive in the race for those well-paying jobs of the future."
Zuber was the first woman to lead a NASA spacecraft mission and the first woman to lead a science department at MIT.
In 2004, former President George W. Bush appointed her to the Presidential Commission on the Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. In 2013, former President Barack Obama appointed her to the National Science Board, and President Trump reappointed her in 2018.