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Droegemeier said he became interested in meteorology after he witnessed a tornado in Texas when he was 19. In Oklahoma, he focused on improving early warning systems for severe weather — work that Sen. James Inhofe has credited with saving lives in the tornado-prone state.

He told the Senate Commerce Committee that he wants to use his background as a weather forecaster to bring the weather and climate communities together so that they can improve climate forecasts and address climate change, including improving cities' resilience to extreme weather.

\"I'm really focused as sort of a guy that does weather modeling at predicting the future. I'm really looking at what we do in the future. So absolutely I'm very excited to work on that. I think we need improvements in climate models. We need lots of things going forward,\" he said.

Droegemeier has previously been nominated to the National Science Board by Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and was confirmed both times.

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