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CORVALLIS - An expert in plant physiology and environmental change at Oregon State University has been appointed to direct the Ecological and Evolutionary Physiology Program at the National Science Foundation in Washington, D.C.

William Winner, an OSU professor of botany and plant pathology, will work with panels of scientists and other NSF officials to review research proposals from scientists across the nation, in a $7-10 million program that focuses on the ecology or evolution of plants, animals, fungi and other life forms.

The assignment should last for two or three years, and allows Winner to retain his OSU position during the appointment period. In order to accept this position, Winner is resigning as director of the Environmental Sciences Graduate Program at OSU, a blossoming educational initiative that is now working with 55 OSU graduate students since its inception three years ago.

"This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the direction of national research in a vital area of ecological and biological science," Winner said. "These studies further our understanding of the physiological basis for ecological adaptations and evolution, in both plants and animals. It's also an unusual chance to gain insights and experience with federal science agencies and then return to OSU."

This agency supports research on how physiological or morphological mechanisms have evolved, and how they may influence interactions between organisms and their biotic or physiochemical environment.

At OSU, Winner's research programs have examined the responses of plants to environmental stresses, such as changes in the availability of nutrients, water, light, carbon dioxide, and toxicity from air pollutants. He has studied agricultural crops, seedlings and mature trees in controlled experiments in both the laboratory and field, to better understand how plants might respond to changes in the environment or resource management.