We’re delighted by President-elect Barack Obama’s appointment of Oregon State University professor Jane Lubchenco to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Sure, some of the delight comes from hometown pride. But we’re equally thrilled because the nomination, along with some of the other nominations Obama has announced, signals a sea change (pun intended; sorry) in how the administration works with scientists.

Too often in the Bush administration, science has taken a backseat to policy. Too often, solid scientific work has been ignored or, worse, suppressed.

Judging by Lubchenco’s career to date, she’ll be tough to suppress.

In fact, as The Washington Post noted last week, Lubchenco is known in part for encouraging scientists to become more active in public-policy debates. It’s understandable how some scientists might want to shy away from the cut-and-thrust of life in the political arena, but Lubchenco has argued forcefully that the environmental issues we’re facing are too great, too complex, for scientists to keep their distance. And their role in

explaining and exploring these issues is too essential for scientists to stay silent.

Another encouraging sign from this nomination and others is that the administration apparently is seeking out and successfully wooing world-class scientists for important posts. (Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Chu is Obama’s pick for secretary of energy and Harvard physicist John Holdren will serve as the presidential science adviser.)

Lubchenco should fit in well with that crowd. She has served as the president of both the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Council for Science. Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA deputy director and now a professor at the University of New Hampshire, had this to say about Lubchenco’s nomination: “When has NOAA been headed by a member of the National Academy and a fellow of the Royal Society? That’s exactly the right signal. It establishes NOAA as one of those key scientific agencies.”

It might be true that in the past, NOAA hasn’t always enjoyed the highest of profiles among the agencies of the federal government. Our hunch is that Lubchenco is about to give that profile a big boost.