President-elect Donald Trump cannot lead a whole country alone. Presidents would need the advice of experts and professionals who are much more knowledgeable in their respective fields. Which is why every president since the second World War has always maintained a personal science adviser to guide them in making critical decisions when it comes to science and technology, in the White House.
Donald Trump is going to take his seat as the next President of the United States soon. And one of his responsibilities include fostering science, technology and innovation in the country. The POTUS can fulfill his responsibilities to science in two ways. One, he can use scientific knowledge on policy decisions and second, policies can affect the course of science, as reported by The Conversation.
Trump has explained during his campaign that he wants to boost the economy's growth rate. In addition to his plans, supporting science and technology is important in this process. The director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy is going to be providing Donald Trump the advice he needs. The OSTP is very influential in implementing the POTUS' science, tech and innovation policies.
Before current President Barack Obama steps down and delivers his presidential farewell speech next week, the White House Techies are already leaving Trump and his transition team a "must do" list. According to the White House's official website, Obama's science and technology team has published a memo (written by the OSTP) celebrating the administration's accomplishments over the last two terms along with a check list, as reported by Wired.
The memo lists the Obama administration's investments on research, STEM education, entrepreneurship and more. Trump has already discussed the future of tech with Peter Thiel, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Google's Larry Page, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet's Eric Schmidt and Facebook's COO Sheryl Sandberg. But it is not yet clear if he has scanned the memo from the OSTP.
In the meantime, here is Obama in action with his scientific advisors at the White House:
