White House official to deliver EMS 2019 spring commencement address

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kelvin K. Droegemeier, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) will deliver the 2019 spring commencement address for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) undergraduate graduation ceremony. The ceremony will be held at 8 p.m. Friday, May 3, in the Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State’s University Park campus.

“We are extremely honored to have Dr. Droegemeier as this year’s commencement speaker,” said Lee Kump, John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “He has had a distinguished career as a pioneer and leader in the science of storm-scale numerical weather forecasting, and is now in such an influential position with the Trump administration.”

Droegemeier is the 18th director of the White House OSTP and was officially sworn in on Feb. 11, 2019. Congress established the OSTP in 1976 and its role is “to provide the White House with advice on the scientific, engineering, and technological aspects of the economy, national security, homeland security, health, foreign relations, the environment, and the technological recovery and use of resources, among other topics.” The director of this office is often referred to as the president's science adviser.

Droegemeier is a well-respected extreme weather scientist. Before joining the OSTP, he was a member of the University of Oklahoma’s faculty for 35 years, with appointments as Regents’ Professor of Meteorology and Teigen Presidential Professor. From 2009 to 2018, he served as the vice president for research.

Droegemeier co-founded and directed the National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms (CAPS). He directed CAPS from 1994 until 2006, and today CAPS is recognized around the world as the pioneer of storm-scale numerical weather prediction. He also co-founded the NSF Engineering Research Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere in 2003 and served for several years as its deputy director.

Droegemeier has long been active in national research policy. He served two six-year terms, four years as vice chair, on the National Science Board, the governing body of the NSF, during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

Droegemeier is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Born in Kansas, Droegemeier received his bachelor of science in meteorology with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma in 1980, his master of science in atmospheric science in 1982, and his doctorate in 1985, both in atmospheric science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

More information about commencement can be found at http://commencement.psu.edu/.