THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
                      (Los Angeles, California)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                        May 4, 1998

                          PRESIDENT CLINTON 
                       NAMES HANS MARK DIRECTOR 
                 OF DEFENSE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING 
                     AT THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

The President today announced his intent to nominate Dr. Hans Mark to serve as Director of Defense Research and Engineering.

Dr. Hans Mark, of Austin, Texas, is currently a Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Mark also served as Chancellor of The University of Texas System from 1984 to 1992. Prior to joining UT in 1984, Dr. Mark was the Deputy Administrator of NASA, having been appointed to that position in March 1981, by President Reagan. He was Secretary of the Air Force from April 1979, to February 1981, and Under Secretary of the Air Force from April 1977, to April 1979. Before coming to Washington he was the director of the NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California from 1969 to 1977.

Dr. Mark earned an A.B. degree in physics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1951, and a Ph.D. in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1954.

The Director of Defense Research and Engineering is the chief technical advisor to the Secretary, Deputy Secretary, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Technology on defense science and technology development, priorities, programs and strategies including scientific and technical matters, basic and applied research, and advanced technology development.

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