Professor Arnold speaks on the importance of science during a press conference.
President-elect Joe Biden on Saturday introduced key members of his White House science team, including his nominee for director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).
"These are among the brightest, most dedicated people not only in the country but the world," Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware.
"For the first time in history, I'm going to be elevating the presidential science adviser to a Cabinet rank, because we think it's that important," Biden said. Biden has named Eric Lander to lead the OSTP and will serve as a presidential science adviser.
Biden has picked Alondra Nelson as the OSTP deputy director for science and society. He has also chosen Maria Zuber and alumna and Nobel Laureate Frances H. Arnold to serve as co-chairs of the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology.
Biden described the OSTP and the president's council as "two of the most extraordinary, least-known departments, especially the last four years, at the White House." He said they are "composed of some of the most brilliant scientific minds in the world."
Biden said when he served as vice president he had an "intense interest" in what these departments were working on, "and I paid enormous attention, and I was like the kid going back to school. I would sit down and say, can you explain to me, and they were, they'd be very patient with me."
Biden said his picks to lead these departments "represent enormous possibilities."
"They're the ones asking the most American of questions: What next? What next? Never satisfied. What next? And what's next is big and breathtaking. How can, how can we make the impossible possible," Biden said.
Biden said when he announced in 2015 that he would not run for president in the 2016 cycle he had only one regret: "That I wouldn't get to be the president to preside over cancer as we know it."
"As president, I'm going to do everything I can to get that done," he said. Biden's son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
Biden said addressing cancer would be a priority of his and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, and would be a signature issue for incoming first lady Jill Biden.