(Portland, OR)  --  The U.S. Senate is confirming President Biden's pick of an Oregon State University professor to head up the nation's leading agency for weather, climate and ocean science.  The Senate voted to confirm Rick Spinrad to become the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration yesterday.  Spinrad previously served as the agency's chief scientist under President Obama.  He becomes the third person from Oregon State University to lead NOAA.