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CORVALLIS - William Baird, a cancer researcher and professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at Oregon State University, recently received awards from international scientific societies for both his teaching and research.

Baird received the Student Education Award during the Environmental Mutagen Society meeting held in Miami Beach, Fla., and later this year will be recognized with the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon Research Award from the International Society for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, for his outstanding research accomplishments in that field.

Baird, the former director of the Environmental Health Science Center at OSU, studies the mechanisms by which chemicals induce cancer, especially polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These are widespread environmental pollutants that produce DNA damage that can lead to mutations and cancer.

Baird received his doctorate from the University of Wisconsin system in 1971 and has been on the OSU faculty since 1997.