Washington

The new President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) — named by the White House last week — is dominated by computer-industry executives.

Bench scientists are thinly represented on the 24-strong panel, whose job it is to guide the White House on science and technology matters, but whose influence has varied between administrations.

Among the new PCAST members are two legendary figures from the information-technology industry: Michael Dell, chairman of Dell, and Gordon Moore, chairman emeritus of Intel. Robert Herbold, a vice-president at Microsoft, Carol Bartz, chief executive of software supplier Autodesk, and George Scalise, president of the Semiconductor Industry Association, are also on the panel.

In addition, President Bush has tapped some old hands from previous Republican administrations including Walter Massey and Bernadine Healy, who headed the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health, respectively, under his father. Another former NSF director, Erich Bloch, will be on the council, as will two holdovers from President Clinton's PCAST — Charles Vest, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine.

Newcomers on the panel include Charles Arntzen, a biotechnologist at Arizona State University, and Kathleen Behrens, a biotechnology analyst with investment-management firm Robertson Stephens. University administrators asked to join include Wayne Clough, president of the Georgia Institute of Technology, and Marye Anne Fox, chancellor of North Carolina State University.

PCAST will be co-chaired by White House science adviser John Marburger and Floyd Kvamme, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

Bush met with the group immediately after its first meeting on 12 December, which optimists take as an encouraging sign of his interest in the panel. White House officials say that PCAST will concentrate its early efforts in four areas: energy efficiency, information technology, counter-terrorism, and an overall assessment of federal research funding. They add that the heavy representation of information technology on the panel reflects its importance to the economy and to science.

According to a source familiar with Bush's plans for PCAST, the panel will concentrate on preparing memos to the president, rather than public reports.