Kansas University distinguished professor Thomas Taylor has been appointed to the National Science Board, which advises the president and Congress on science policy.

“I’m honored,” Taylor said Friday. “It’s a six-year term, which means that one truly does have an opportunity to impact science policy.”

Taylor, the Roy A. Roberts distinguished professor in KU’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology, is among eight recent appointments to the board, the White House announced this week. His term runs through May 2012.

The 24-member board, appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, governs the National Science Foundation. Members are selected for eminence in their fields.

“It’s not only a fabulous feather in Tom’s cap, but it’s a terrific recognition of the kind of world-class scientists that we have at the University of Kansas,” said Leonard Krishtalka, KU professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of the Biodiversity Institute.

Taylor earned his graduate degree in paleobotany at the University of Illinois and conducted postgraduate work at Yale University.

He held academic posts at several institutions, including Ohio State University, before arriving at KU in 1995. He also has a courtesy chair in KU’s geology department.

Taylor has worked as department chair and currently serves as senior curator of paleobotany at KU’s Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Higuchi-Endowment Research Achievement Award in the basic sciences.

He was Kansas director of the National Science Foundation’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research from 1999 to 2004.