Senate Approves CSB Nominees, White House Picks Science Leaders

The Senate confirmed two White House nominees to lead the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board earlier this month. Vanessa Allen Sutherland became CSB’s chair, a position that had been vacant since former chair Rafael Moure-Eraso was forced to resign in March. Sutherland was previously chief counsel for the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Chemist Kristen M. Kulinowski, a nanotechnology safety expert and policy analyst at the federally funded Science & Technology Policy Institute, was also confirmed as a CSB member. This brings the CSB board up to almost full capacity, with four of five members. Also last week, the White House nominated two science leaders, Richard Buckius as deputy director at the National Science Foundation and Cherry Murray as head of DOE’s Office of Science.