President Barack Obama announced the appointment of four members to his science and technology team, a group charged with crafting science policy regarding the life sciences, the environment, health and technology.

“It’s about ensuring that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology. It’s about listening to what our scientists have to say, even when it’s inconvenient,” Obama stated on his website. The newly elected president emphasized that government officials must provide necessary resources to scientists and work hand-in-hand with them to design effective legislation.

In his address, Obama announced the appointment of John Holdren, a professor of environmental policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, to the positions of Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and Co-Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

Holdren previously served as President and Chair of the Board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research focuses on global climate change and the dangers associated with nuclear weapons. Holdren is also an expert on energy policy.

Obama also appointed Eric Lander and Harold Varmus to co-chair PCAST.

Lander, a biologist, founded and directs the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He contributed significantly to the Human Genome Project.

Varmus, the third Co-Chair, is the President of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), where he studies the molecular mechanisms behind the formation of cancer. In 1989, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for unearthing the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes — a finding that paved the way for studying the basis of cancer and tumor growth.

Jane Lubchenco was named to the position of Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she will oversee marine and atmospheric research, especially its relation to global climate change and the conservation of natural resources.

Lubchenco is a professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University, where she studies human impacts on the sustainability of marine ecosystems. In the past, she has also served as president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Obama appointed Steven Chu, Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Stanford University to the post of Secretary of Energy. Chu received the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work developing laser cooling, a technique to lower the temperature of gases which involves using light to rob atoms of their momentum. In addition to his work in atomic physics, Chu’s laboratory also studies synthetic and biological polymers.

All members of Obama’s science team are vocal supporters of curbing greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming.

“They are, by far, the best group of science appointees since World War II,” Prof. Emeritus Kurt Gottfried, physics, and chair of the Union of Concerned Scientist wrote in an e-mail. “Many of us are very impressed by the fact that Obama announced them personally on the national media in a very thoughtful manner, whereas previous presidents have usually just made the announcement by an impersonal press release.”

Prof. Bruce Lewenstein, communication, said Lander and Lubchenco have been strong advocates of science literacy, communication and policy making for a long time. “They are clearly very good people,” he said.

“There’s always going to be controversy,” Lewenstein said, claiming that while Obama picked qualified scientists to preside over science matters, some members of the scientific community do question Holdren’s scientific integrity.