Ashley Siefert Nunes
WASHINGTON—Dr. Gretchen Goldman, an environmental engineer who previously served in the Department of Transportation, White House and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), will be joining UCS on February 3, 2025, as its next president. Dr. Goldman has deep expertise at the nexus of science and policy on topics including federal scientific integrity, climate science and emissions reductions, air pollution exposure and health effects, and environmental justice and science in federal decision making.
“Dr. Goldman stood out amongst an extremely talented pool of candidates with her extraordinary vision, government and NGO policy experience, unparalleled science advocacy, and her deep commitment to environmental justice,” said Dr. Anne Kapuscinski, chair of UCS’s board of directors. “She has wide-ranging expertise that will help UCS advance its mission of using rigorous science to build a healthy, safe and just future.”
In recent years, Dr. Goldman served in the White House as the assistant director for environmental science, engineering, policy, and justice in the Climate and Environment division of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, where she focused on climate equity, air quality, Indigenous Knowledge, environmental justice, and scientific integrity. She also served as the climate change research and technology director at the U.S. Department of Transportation, where she worked to decarbonize the transportation sector and build community resilience to climate change.
During the first Trump administration, Dr. Goldman was research director for the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS, where her team documented more than 200 attacks on science from the administration, and where she built a reputation as a thought leader on science and federal policymaking.
“Every administration has politicized science in ways that hurt regular people, but my experience tells me this will be a whole new ball game,” said Dr. Goldman. “I’m energized for this fight. Together we must uphold the progress we’ve made to fight climate change and find opportunities at the state and regional level to continue the clean energy revolution that is underway.”
A prolific writer, speaker and advocate, Dr. Goldman has testified before the U.S. Congress, served as an expert on the Public Health Rulemaking of the California Department of Conservation’s Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM), chaired the Air and Climate Public Advisory Committee for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and served on the UNESCO/AAAS Consultation Group on the U.S. science ecosystem.
She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in environmental engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a B.S. in atmospheric science from Cornell University.