NOAA Boss Lubchenko Stepping Down

Steve Heimel/APRN
You can add the name of NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenko to the list of top Obama administration officials not sticking around for the President’s second term. The Commerce Undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere told her staff today [Wednesday] that she’ll be leaving her job early next year.
Lubchenko helped lead the administration’s response to the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico and is responsible for fishery policies and marine mammal management, as well as the National Weather Service. NOAA’s support for expanding quota share programs for allocating fisheries has been controversial in Alaska. She has been a professor of marine ecology at Oregon State University since 1977, and a longtime advocate for science and science communication to the public.
Lubchenko is a former President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been part of President Obama’s science team.