Charles E. Hess, professor of environmental horticulture and former dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of California, Davis, has been nominated by President Bush to serve on the National Science Board, the policy-making unit of the National Science Foundation. Pending Senate confirmation, Hess' six-year term will begin May 10. The National Science Board initiates and supports basic and applied scientific research, and evaluates the impact of research on industrial development and the general welfare of the nation. The board also works to foster the exchange of information among scientists from the United States and abroad, and to assess the status and needs of various scientific disciplines. Hess returned to the Davis campus last fall after spending two years in Washington, D.C., as assistant secretary for science and education in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He is currently serving as director of the International Programs Office for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Long active in national science and agricultural policy leadership, Hess was a member of the National Science Board from 1982-1988, serving as its vice chair from 1984-1988. He also was recently appointed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to a three-year term on its Biotechnology Science Advisory Committee.