Marcia McNutt to head USGS
Karina Rusk
KGO-TV
07/10/2009
Marcia McNutt has not talked with President Barack Obama herself, but he says he will nominate her to be the next director of the USGS.
"I think this is really a chance to make a big contribution," McNutt said.
McNutt has already made significant contributions in the scientific community. She has spent the last 12 years at helm of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
She says in recent years, science has been filtered at the USGS by politics.
"This was not a scientific review, not a review by their peers, it was a review by politicians," McNutt said.
Her colleagues have nothing but praise for McNutt and say she is the right person at a critical time in history.
"I think she will speak with clarity and honesty about the issues," MBARI senior scientist Charlie Paull said.
The USGS is perhaps best known for its study of earthquakes, but it monitors all geologic activity, and also estimates gas and oil reserves, has a major role in predicting water supplies and studies climate change. Mcnutt says on that issue, the U.S. has fallen behind.
