New member joins board

The first director of Iowa State University's Plant Sciences Institute also is the newest member of the Leopold Center Advisory Board. Stephen Howell, who came to ISU in January from Ithaca, New York, succeeds Colin Scanes as one of two ISU representatives on the board. Scanes had served since 1997.

Howell brings to the board an international research reputation in the genetics of plant pathology and physiology. Most recently he was vice president for research at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research, a private, nonprofit corporation affiliated with Cornell University. At the ISU Plant Sciences Institute, he oversees research at nine centers on campus including the Center for Plant Genomics and Center for Designer Crops. A native of Davenport, Howell grew up in Ames and received a biology degree from Grinnell College. He holds a doctoral degree from Johns Hopkins University and was a member of the biology faculty at the University of California-San Diego for nearly 20 years. He moved to Ames with his wife, Elizabeth. They have two grown children.