Our colleagues over at the other science magazine (Science) reported this afternoon that the White House has tapped Subra Suresh, dean of the engineering school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as director for the National Science Foundation. That may be true at some level, depending on how one defines “tapped,” but according to the White House definition, which is the one that matters, this information is false.

“No decision has been made,” says Rick Weiss, who handles communications at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Weiss’ boss is John Holdren, the president’s chief science advisor, who would presumably know.

Weiss didn’t have much to add beyond that. He said he couldn’t confirm Suresh as a potential or leading candidate, nor could he provide any clues as to the timing of an announcement. The current NSF director, Arden Bement, announced last month that he will step down in June to lead the new Global Policy Research Institute at Purdue University. Bement was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2004.

One presumes that Suresh is on the list of candidates, and evidently at least one person thinks he is a leading candidate, but you never know how these processes work out. The White House vets multiple candidates simultaneously while conducting interviews and the like in an effort to make sure that such appointments are solid before they head to the Senate for confirmation. And even then, the process blows up every once in a while.

A call to Suresh’s office turned up nothing (he was in a meeting, an assistant said), and unfortunately we hadn’t heard back from him as of this posting. NSF officials also seemed surprised by the news, although word had trickled down previously that there might be an appointment sooner than later. Eventually they, too, confirmed that no formal decision had been made.

Make of all that what you will. When official word comes down (or when we have a better idea what’s going on), we’ll be back with more.