HEINZ CENTER NAMES MELILLO, RIS TRUSTEES

The Heinz Center announced that Jerry M. Melillo and Howard Ris have been elected to its Board of Trustees. Dr. Melillo is co-director of the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. Mr. Ris is president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), where he oversees all the organizations work on environmental and security issues.

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) August 1, 2003 -- The Heinz Center announced that Jerry M. Melillo and Howard Ris have been elected to its Board of Trustees.

Dr. Melillo is co-director of the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he is in his twenty-sixth year as a research scientist. His research includes work on climate change, disruption of the global nitrogen cycle, ecological consequences of tropical deforestation, and sustainable management of tropical agro-ecosystems. Dr. Melillo also has a strong interest in science policy. He served as the Associate Director for Environment at the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President in 1996 and 1997. In August 2003, Dr. Melillo will be designated the president-elect of the Ecological Society of America.

Mr. Ris is president of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), where he oversees all the organizations work on environmental and security issues. He has been with UCS since 1981, serving as executive director from 1984 to 2001 and as director of UCSs Nuclear Arms Control Program from 1981 to 1984. Mr. Ris is a member of the Environmental Business Council of New England and was a founding member of the Professionals Coalition for Nuclear Arms Control and the International Network of Engineers and Scientists for Global Responsibility.

G. William Miller, chair of the Heinz Centers Board, welcomed Dr. Melillo and Mr. Ris to the Board, saying: We know that the Center will benefit from the commitment, insight, and experience of our two new colleagues. Both bring to the Board strengths that will be invaluable to the Center as we move forward.

Dr. Melillo is not a newcomer to the Center-he was an active participant in the first phase of the Centers landmark project on the State of the Nations Ecosystems, and as a trustee he will be a valuable link between the Board and this ongoing project.

Mr. Ris is a leader in efforts, both national and international, to address the issues of climate change, as well as the connections between environmental and security policy. We look forward to the involvement of both Dr. Melillo and Mr. Ris as we strengthen the Centers Global Change program."

Thomas E. Lovejoy, the Heinz Centers president and a member of the Board of Trustees, said, We are thrilled to be able to work with these two distinguished colleagues as we address some of the most important environmental challenges of our time."

The Heinz Center, established in 1995 in memory of Senator John Heinz, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic basis for environmental policy and to developing innovative solutions to environmental problems.

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