Zina Sutch, former director of the Agriculture Department’s Office of the Executive Secretariat, has joined the Office of Personnel Management as director of OPM’s diversity and inclusion office.

OPM said Wednesday Sutch will work to review federal policies, government-wide data trends and employee survey findings that influence how the agency handles human resource policies related to diversity and inclusion issues.

“Her extensive work experience and her knowledge of diversity and inclusion issues will be a tremendous advantage as we continue to build and maintain a federal workforce that draws top talent from throughout this nation,” said Beth Cobert, OPM acting director.

Sutch was previously the USDA’s director of diversity, recruitment and work/life functions within the department’s office of the assistant secretary for administration prior to his most recent role there.

She began her career at USDA as leadership development program manager for the Agricultural Marketing Service in 2006 and later took the role as a training officer for the international technology services division for the chief information officer.

NASA will launch a space mission that will travel to the asteroid called Bennu on September 8 to study and return samples from the rock formation.

The space agency said Wednesday its Goddard Space Flight Center leads the OSIRIS-REx mission that will use Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer instruments to survey the asteroid for a year.

Lockheed Martin is developing the spacecraft for the mission and the University of Arizona’s Dante Lauretta will serve as the principal investigator

OSIRIS-REx’s goal is to search for plumes of material coming from the asteroid, measure non-gravitational forces on Bennu and identify the best spot to collect samples from.

“Everything the spacecraft learns will be woven together like a tapestry to tell the story of Bennu,” said Kevin Walsh, OSIRIS-REx co-investigator at the Southwest Research Institute.

NASA noted three operations maps are planned to evaluate safe areas for the spacecraft to move close to, determine areas the sampling arm can create contact with the surface and to indicate where to collect material suited for sampling.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has awarded $2.6 million in grants to seven members of the Health Center Partners of Southern California to help improve the center’s oral health care services.

Clinicas de Salud Del Pueblo, Neighborhood Healthcare, North County Health Services, La Maestra Community Health Centers, San Diego American Indian Health Center, San Ysidro Health Center and Vista Community Clinic received a grant ranging from $350,000 to $525,000, HCP said Monday.

The grant will support the centers to not only help improve its oral health care offerings but also steer patients to Federally Qualified Health Centers where integrated preventive oral care can be administered.

Fernando Sañudo, Vista Community Clinic CEO, said that the grant will allow the clinics to offer mobile dental services to schools, local businesses and community events in Lake Elsinore, Riverside and north San Diego County.

The grants are a part of the HHS country-wide drive that has awarded $156 million to 420 health centers with funding managed by the the Health Resources and Service Administration.

The project has since helped treat 785,000 patients through the hire of 1,600 new dentists, dental hygienists, assistants and technicians.

Rose Gottemoeller, the State Department‘s undersecretary for arms control and international security, has been appointed to succeed Alexander Vershbow as deputy secretary-general of NATO beginning Oct. 1.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday Gottemoeller will be the first woman to hold that position in the alliance’s history.

In her current role, she advises the State Department secretary on arms control, nonproliferation and political military issues.

She previously served as assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center and chief negotiator for the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.