WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY23) and Committee member Felix J. Grucci (R-NY1) will call for the swift confirmation of Presidential Science Advisor nominee Dr. John H. Marburger. The Senate Commerce Committee has scheduled a nomination hearing for this afternoon, and Boehlert and Grucci have been invited to testify.
Dr. Marburger was nominated by President Bush this summer to serve as the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Marburger is currently the Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York.
I have had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with Dr. Marburger, both here and in New York, since the President announced his intention to nominate him as Science Advisor. And I can tell you that no one can spend time around Jack Marburger without being impressed. He is thoughtful, articulate and straightforward traits all too rare around this town. He is an excellent manager someone who inspires confidence, someone who is a natural leader, someone who is able to rally people around him while still being self-deprecating. These, too, are rare abilities, and ones that, frankly, he will need to work with the turf-conscious R&D agencies and the Office of Management and Budget, said Chairman Boehlert.
Dr. John Marburger will be a tremendous asset to President Bush, and our nation as a whole. He brings sterling credentials firmly based in some of our nations finest educational and scientific facilities. He has overseen an era of exciting scientific advances as Director of Brookhaven National Laboratory, and played a significant role in the environmental restoration of the Laboratory and restoring the communitys faith in our governments science program, said Grucci. Dr. Marburger is exactly the type of person we need as the White Houses Science Advisor: a gifted scientist, a highly regarded educator, and a concerned citizen bringing new ideas to get the job done.
Dr. Marburger holds a B.A. in physics from Princeton and a PhD in Applied Physics from Stanford University where he developed an expertise in non-linear optics. His teaching activities included Frontiers of Electronics, a series of educational programs broadcast nation-wide by CBS.
In 1980 he assumed the Presidency of SUNY Stony Brook. During his fourteen-year tenure, the university opened University Hospital, established a national reputation for work in the biological sciences, and increased its federal research portfolio until it exceeded that of any other public university in the northeast. In addition, he established the Long Island Technology Incubator.
In 1997, Dr. Marburger became President of Brookhaven Science Associates, a partnership between SUNY Stony Brook and Batelle, which was awarded the contract to manage Brookhaven Laboratory for the Department of Energy. Under his leadership, Brookhaven is doing important work in particle physics, imaging and neuroscience, and genomics. The lab has been recommended for ISO 14001 registration the international standard of excellence for environmental management.
Dr. Marburger must draw upon all of these experiences in order to meet the challenges that will face the Science Advisor over the next several months and years, said Boehlert. I am confident that Dr. Marburger is up to the task and I urge you to report his nomination favorably to the full Senate.
###
107-93