Does Science Need Scientists?

U.S. President Donald Trump has unveiled the new lineup of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST). According to Science.org, the revamped body is narrowly focused on artificial intelligence and quantum computing. Unlike previous iterations, the council is made up not of academic researchers, but of tech industry leaders and some of the richest people in the world.

Billionaires Instead of Professors

So far, 13 of the 24 possible council seats have been filled. The roster includes top executives from major technology companies: Larry Ellison (Oracle), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Lisa Su (AMD), Sergey Brin (Google), and Michael Dell (Dell). Only one member comes from the academic world: John Martinis of the University of California, who shared the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for foundational work in quantum computing. The council also shows a gender imbalance: only two of the 13 members are women. In the White House’s official statement dated March 25, 2026, the first 13 PCAST members were announced, including tech leaders such as Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerberg, Jensen Huang, Lisa Su, Sergey Brin, and Michael Dell.

For comparison, during Joe Biden’s presidency, two-thirds of the council’s 30 members were part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Fourteen of the members were women, and academic scientists served as co-chairs.

A Threat to Basic Research

The sharp break from academic representation has raised concerns among science policy experts. Critics worry that industry magnates may undervalue the importance of basic research at universities. Former Barack Obama science adviser John Holdren said the new council lacks a balanced mix of expertise, with the focus shifting toward innovation in IT and advanced nuclear energy at the expense of fundamental science. According to an analysis by the American Institute of Physics, the current PCAST is made up mostly of tech industry leaders, while university-based scientists are virtually absent.

According to Science.org, higher education lobbyists argue that “science” has effectively been left out of the “science and technology” pairing. The key question now is whether the new council will support federal funding for basic research, without which the creation of modern commercial technologies would not be possible in the first place.

The Official Position and What Comes Next

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy says the personnel choices reflect the challenges the country is facing. It says the revamped council will focus on assessing the opportunities and risks new technologies pose to the American labor market. The body will be led by Office director Michael Kratsios and senior AI adviser David Sacks.

The White House says it will announce the remaining members soon. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities has already called on the administration to include academic leaders and heads of research centers among the remaining appointments.