Jane Lubchenco (born December 4, 1947) is an American environmental scientist and marine ecologist who teaches and conducts research at Oregon State University.

[1] In February 2021, she was appointed by President Joe Biden to serve as deputy director for Climate and Environment in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

[8] She attended graduate school at the University of Washington where she combined experimental and evolutionary approaches to marine ecology for her thesis on competition between sea stars.

In 1995, she and her husband, Bruce A. Menge, were both named Wayne and Gladys Valley Professors of Marine Biology, endowed chair positions in the Department of Zoology.

changes to our results arising from the data error have cast doubt over the outcome of the peer review process, ultimately leading to the retraction of this paper.”[15] Since 2021, Lubchenco has served as co-chair of the White House's Scientific Integrity Task Force.

The SBI connected the dots between seemingly esoteric research topics and real-world environmental problems, demonstrating the relevance and importance of ecological science.

[24] Lubchenco co-founded a research/monitoring/communications collaboration that sought to understand how the near-shore portion of the large marine ecosystem off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California works and is changing, with an eye to improving management and policy.

Findings from the PISCO team have been used by managers and policy makers,[25] to understand the emergence of new "dead zones," and the impacts of climate change, ocean acidification, and sea star wasting disease off Washington and Oregon.

She was part of a study on the potential of well-managed marine reserves to mitigate and promote climate change adaptation by limiting direct anthropogenic stressors, enabling species recovery, and restoring habitat complexity.

[29] More recently, she and her collaborators provided a novel approach to reconcile multiple goals for MPAs: biodiversity protection, food production, and climate mitigation.

The Scientific Integrity Policy allows NOAA scientists to speak freely to the media and public, and forbids the manipulation, suppression, distortion and misuse of science in the agency.

[34] Early in President Obama's administration, he charged agencies with establishing strong scientific integrity policies that would 'return science to its rightful place' in government.

NOAA provided data from satellites, planes, ships and buoys, and on-the-ground scientists to help track the oil and forecast where it would go; local weather forecasts to inform responders; scientific advice to the U.S. Coast Guard who is in charge of an oil spill in U.S. waters; kept seafood safe by closing fisheries in U.S. waters when oil was present or expected to be present; developed protocols with other agencies to reopen closed areas; protected endangered species such as turtles; and evaluated the impact of the spill on the natural resources of the Gulf and the public's access to them.

[38] NOAA scientists and their academic partners continue to analyze and monitor the effects of the spill on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem where both offshore and nearshore organisms and habitats were impacted.

She actively participated in the President's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force and attended all of the six regional meetings across the country to gather stakeholder input.

Lubchenco led NOAA's efforts to develop MSA management plans, which specify annual catch limits and accountability measures for each fishery.

NOAA's Catch Share Policy remains controversial, with critics asserting it cuts jobs for fishermen and takes away money from small coastal economies.

On the international front, Lubchenco increased the number of efforts aimed at addressing overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing on the high seas.

She teamed up with the Commissioner of Fisheries for the European Union, Maria Damanaki to initiate a more serious effort to address illegal fishing and level the playing field for law-abiding fishermen.

[59][60] Lubchenco worked to see international treaties on IUU fishing approved and strengthened the use of science and precaution in making decisions by regional fishery management organizations.

[61][62] Specifically, during her tenure as NOAA Administrator, the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA) to Prevent, Deter, and Eliminate IUU Fishing through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization was finalized and went into effect.

NOAA delivered life-saving forecasts for 770 tornadoes, 70 Atlantic hurricanes/tropical storms, six major floods, three tsunamis, historic drought, prolonged heat waves, record snowfall/blizzard.

Under the lead of Dr. Lubchenco, NOAA launched the "Weather-Ready Nation" initiative in the summer of 2011 to help build resilience and improve on-the-ground response to extreme weather and water events.

[68] In late October 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast of the United States, devastating communities across the eastern seaboard and west to Michigan and Wisconsin.

NOAA technology and scientists helped to accurately predict the path of the storm, allowing on-the-ground warnings to be issued in time to save lives.

[70] As SEO, Dr. Lubchenco's mission was to integrate scientific knowledge with the creation of sustainable solutions that improve global relationships, ocean health, and thus the well-being of human communities around the world.

[71] The year-long tenure of science envoys required Lubchenco be strategic—relying on targeted information and guidance and working closely with key stakeholders—to realize the specific goals of each region.

She applied information and experiences gained as a ‘global diplomat for the ocean’ to advise the White House, State Department, and U.S. science community.

In China, Dr. Lubchenco helped promote the establishment of a new US – China Joint Scientific Experts Group to operate under the established “SOA-NOAA Joint Working Group on Cooperation on Marine and Fishery Science and Technology” and extend the US-China Framework Plan for Ocean and Fishery Science and Technology Cooperation that was in effect 2011–2015.

These papers report novel findings about the factors determining local and global patterns of distribution, abundance and diversity of species on rocky sea shores, interactions between people and nature, the importance of no-take marine protected areas and the responsibilities of scientists to society.