How to Manage American Science? We take Zuckerberg, pour the chips, forget about medicine.
Donald Trump convened a new presidential council on science and technology as if it had formed an expert platform at the White House, but a closed club of people from the fields of AI, chips and nuclear energy. The first PCAST included 13 people. Almost all places were taken by the heads of large technology companies and startups. The only current university researcher on the list was physicist John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2025 for his work on macroscopic quantum phenomena.
There are at least 9 billionaires in the new squad. Among them are Mark Zuckerberg of MetaMeta*, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, head of NVIDIA Jensen Huang, head of AMD Lisa Sou and head of Dell Technologies - Michael Dell. Together, corporate members of the board monitor the state of more than $ 900 billion. The White House left behind the opportunity to expand the list. The Trump decree, signed in 2025, allows adding another 11 people.
During the first term of Trump, from 2017 to 2021, the council had 13 participants excluding the chairman. 7 people represented academic science, 6 came from industry. Under Joe Biden, the composition grew to 28 people. Of these, 19 were university researchers, another 9 represented the industry and state structures. Nature notes another detail: since 2001, each PCAST, in addition to the advice collected by Trump himself, included at least 10 academic scientists.
And the main feature of the new list is not to be how many billionaires there are. More important than another distortion. There is not a single biologist in the council, and the university representation has almost disappeared. For a structure that should help the White House with scientific and technological policy, this composition looks unusual. PCAST usually deals not only with AI, chips and calculations, but also training research, evaluation of interdepartmental programs and the choice of long-term priorities.
Criticism appeared almost immediately. Former and current representatives of the academic environment drew attention to the narrowness of the disciplines. The physicist Laura Green of the University of Florida, who worked at the PCAST under Biden, praised John Martinis and Lisa Sou, calling both strong figures at the junction of science and technology. But in other scientists, the reaction was much tougher. Evolutionary biologist Von Cooper from the University of Pittsburgh has publicly pointed out that the country enters an era of rapid growth of biotechnologies almost without a responsible representation on the council, which should advise the president on scientific issues.
The logic of the administration is quite clear. Experts in scientific policy remind that the composition of PCAST almost always reflects the priorities of the head of state. The current White House at the top of the list has artificial intelligence and quantum technology. Then there is a course towards a sharp expansion of nuclear energy. The Trump administration is going to increase commercial nuclear generation in the United States by 2050. Therefore, it is not surprising that the council found several figures related to AI, quantum computing, the production of chips, nuclear energy and thermonuclear projects.
The biographies of some participants only confirm this conclusion. Lisa Su defended her doctoral thesis on electrical engineering at MIT. Energy startup executives Jacob DeWitt and Bob Mummgarard also received doctoral degrees at MIT: the first in nuclear engineering, the second in applied plasma physics.
Formally, PCAST tasks remain wide. The Council prepares recommendations for the White House on science policy, reviews interdepartmental programs and works through subcommittees. Much of the analytical materials helps to collect the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federal research center in Washington. But the real agenda will largely depend on the leadership of the council. The director of the White House Science and Technology Policy Office Michael Kracios and investor David Sachs, who oversees the AI direction of the administration, have been appointed co-chaired.
Donald Trump convened a new presidential council on science and technology as if it had formed an expert platform at the White House, but a closed club of people from the fields of AI, chips and nuclear energy. The first PCAST included 13 people. Almost all places were taken by the heads of large technology companies and startups. The only current university researcher on the list was physicist John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2025 for his work on macroscopic quantum phenomena.
There are at least 9 billionaires in the new squad. Among them are Mark Zuckerberg of MetaMeta*, Larry Ellison of Oracle, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, head of NVIDIA Jensen Huang, head of AMD Lisa Sou and head of Dell Technologies - Michael Dell. Together, corporate members of the board monitor the state of more than $ 900 billion. The White House left behind the opportunity to expand the list. The Trump decree, signed in 2025, allows adding another 11 people.
During the first term of Trump, from 2017 to 2021, the council had 13 participants excluding the chairman. 7 people represented academic science, 6 came from industry. Under Joe Biden, the composition grew to 28 people. Of these, 19 were university researchers, another 9 represented the industry and state structures. Nature notes another detail: since 2001, each PCAST, in addition to the advice collected by Trump himself, included at least 10 academic scientists.
And the main feature of the new list is not to be how many billionaires there are. More important than another distortion. There is not a single biologist in the council, and the university representation has almost disappeared. For a structure that should help the White House with scientific and technological policy, this composition looks unusual. PCAST usually deals not only with AI, chips and calculations, but also training research, evaluation of interdepartmental programs and the choice of long-term priorities.
Criticism appeared almost immediately. Former and current representatives of the academic environment drew attention to the narrowness of the disciplines. The physicist Laura Green of the University of Florida, who worked at the PCAST under Biden, praised John Martinis and Lisa Sou, calling both strong figures at the junction of science and technology. But in other scientists, the reaction was much tougher. Evolutionary biologist Von Cooper from the University of Pittsburgh has publicly pointed out that the country enters an era of rapid growth of biotechnologies almost without a responsible representation on the council, which should advise the president on scientific issues.
The logic of the administration is quite clear. Experts in scientific policy remind that the composition of PCAST almost always reflects the priorities of the head of state. The current White House at the top of the list has artificial intelligence and quantum technology. Then there is a course towards a sharp expansion of nuclear energy. The Trump administration is going to increase commercial nuclear generation in the United States by 2050. Therefore, it is not surprising that the council found several figures related to AI, quantum computing, the production of chips, nuclear energy and thermonuclear projects.
The biographies of some participants only confirm this conclusion. Lisa Su defended her doctoral thesis on electrical engineering at MIT. Energy startup executives Jacob DeWitt and Bob Mummgarard also received doctoral degrees at MIT: the first in nuclear engineering, the second in applied plasma physics.
Formally, PCAST tasks remain wide. The Council prepares recommendations for the White House on science policy, reviews interdepartmental programs and works through subcommittees. Much of the analytical materials helps to collect the Science and Technology Policy Institute, a federal research center in Washington. But the real agenda will largely depend on the leadership of the council. The director of the White House Science and Technology Policy Office Michael Kracios and investor David Sachs, who oversees the AI direction of the administration, have been appointed co-chaired.
