San Diego : SDSU President Wins Science Post

San Diego State University President Thomas Day will be nominated by President Reagan to serve on the National Science Board, the White House announced Tuesday.

Day, 53, who was a professor of physics at the University of Maryland before becoming an administrator there, assumed the presidency of SDSU in 1978. If his nomination is ratified by the U.S. Senate, Day would be the second San Diegan named to the 25-member national policy-making board, joining William Nierenberg, director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Day said Tuesday the board operates primarily as advisers to Congress, the President and the National Science Foundation on setting scientific policies. “It gets involved mainly in studies that lead to recommended science policies and postures,” Day said of the board.

“And it will issue a number of long-term reports and studies, such as the one that said the country is not producing enough engineers.”

Day said his nomination was advanced by members of San Diego’s congressional delegation. “This is a very prestigious appointment--the board is very important to the country’s scientific research and progress,” he said.

“Personally, it was quite an honor to be nominated by the President of the United States,” Day said. “It gives prestige to the San Diego area, as well as to the state of California. And it will be advantageous to the university, because it will help keep San Diego State’s name before the public on a national scale.”

Day will not receive a salary to serve on the board, which meets about six times each year in Washington.