William Powell

Director, Council on Biotechnology in Forestry, SUNY-ESF
Co-Director of The American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project
Roosevelt Wild Life Station Scientist-in-Residence
2013 Forest Biotechnologist of the Year
2014 Exemplary Researcher Award at SUNY-ESF
Coordinator of the undergraduate Biotechnology major

Background:
Dr. Powell served four years in the U.S. Air Force before entering college. He received his BS in biology in 1982 at Salisbury University, MD, and his PhD in 1986 at Utah State University studying the molecular mechanisms of hypovirulence in the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica. He spent over two years as a postdoctoral associate at University of Florida researching transformation techniques using the fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum. In 1989 he became a faculty member at the State University of New York’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse, NY, where he began collaborating with his colleague, Dr. Charles Maynard, researching methods to develop a blight-resistant American chestnut (Castanea dentata) tree. He has 35 years experience working with the American chestnut tree and chestnut blight. He has also worked with American elm and hybrid poplar. He teaches courses in Principles of Genetics, Plant Biotechnology, and Biotechnology Freshman orientation.