Catherine Woteki, dean of the College of Agriculture, has been appointed as chair of the nationwide Board of Food and Nutrition by the president of the National Academy of Sciences.

She will serve a three-year term without compensation, Woteki said.

“I was excited and pleased about being appointed, but also concerned because it is a lot of work,” she said.

The mission of the Board of Food and Nutrition is to research and advise the government on issues concerning food quality, adequacy and safety, according to its Web site, www.iom.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/Pages/About+FNB.

“It is an excellent focus and opportunity for her,” said Wendy Wintersteen, senior associate dean of the College of Agriculture.

Woteki said she will perform various tasks, but will not take part personally in the research.

“We oversee the studies the board has underway,” Woteki said. “We advise the staff.”

Woteki has served as a member of the Board of Food and Nutrition before, but this is her first chair position, she said.

“The nature of the things the board asks you to do are interesting, so you learn a lot,” Woteki said.

“The Board of Food and Nutrition, for example, produces the recommended dietary allowances or RDA, which are the numbers you read on the side of a cereal box that tell you how much of a certain element you should consume.”

The Board of Food and Nutrition is a division of the Institute of Medicine, which operates under the National Academy of Sciences, according to the Board of Food and Nutrition’s Web site.

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit organization created in 1863 by an act of congress, Woteki said.

“It is a private institution, but at the same time it has a charter from congress that says it has to respond when asked to [perform] research by the government,” Woteki said.

Woteki assumed her role as dean of the College of Agriculture in January 2002 and is the first woman to hold the position at Iowa State.

Prior to this, Woteki was a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland and a professor of nutrition and food safety at the University of Nebraska.

“Dean Woteki has a national and international reputation in her profession,” Wintersteen said.

“She is very courageous and able to make difficult decisions, so she is a very capable person for the board.”

Woteki is a nutritional epidemiologist and a certified dietitian.