Abbott out as National Science Foundation's Assistant Director for Geosciences

Abstract

Mark Abbott will not head the U.S. National Science Foundation's Geosciences Directorate, the agency stated on 2 August. This reverses a 10 July announcement by NSF that Abbott, dean of the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University (OSU), would assume the NSF assistant director position in October (Eos, 17 July 2007, p. 294).A mid‐July review by the NSF Office of General Council raised concerns that conflict of interest rules would limit Abbott's ability to manage significant parts of the Geosciences Directorate. Because Abbott would have remained affiliated with OSU and with a number of programs, he would have needed to recuse himself from involvement in 4 out of 9 major funding areas related to the geosciences portfolio, according to Jeff Nesbit, director of the NSF Office of Legislative and Public Affairs.