December 18, 2008 From ScienceInsider blog, via the Astrophysics Dept. Librarian, Jane Holmquist:

Obama Chooses Harvard Academic as Science Adviser

Washington — John P. Holdren, director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, is the likely choice as White House science adviser in the Obama administration, according to a report posted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Mr. Holdren, a professor of environmental policy, canceled a planned staff meeting today at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and instead flew to Chicago to meet with Obama transition officials and prepare for the announcement, the association’s ScienceInsider blog said, without identifying its sources.

President-elect Barack Obama, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is expected to announce his choice of Mr. Holdren as science adviser during his weekly radio address on Saturday, ScienceInsider reported.

Mr. Obama already has nominated the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu as energy secretary and named Carol M. Browner, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, to a new position in charge of coordinating energy issues.

—Paul Basken