Stan Wullschleger

Associate Laboratory Director for Biological and Environmental Systems Science 

As ORNL’s Associate Laboratory Director (ALD) for Biological and Environmental Systems Science, Dr. Stan Wullschleger leads a $107 million research portfolio targeting the convergence of biology, ecology, engineering, data discovery, physical sciences, and computing to advance U.S. competitiveness in the global bioeconomy and Earth system sustainability.

The Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate (BESS) comprises two research divisions: Biosciences and Environmental Sciences, supporting research for DOE’s Office of Science, as well as other important sponsors. BESS is home to DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Data Center, which provides data to scientists from around the world. The Center for Bioenergy Innovation enables high-impact and value-added advances along the bioenergy supply chain. The Climate Change Science Institute fosters the integration of experiments, measurements, and simulation to achieve a predictive understanding of our changing world. The ORNL Distributed Active Archive Center is a NASA data center providing scientists and stakeholders with access to biogeochemical and ecological data and models. The UT/ORNL Center for Molecular Biophysics explores the structural dynamics of biomolecules by uniquely working at the interface of biology, chemistry, and the physical sciences, aided by neutron and computational sciences.

Under Dr. Wullschleger’s leadership, BESS staff work to strengthen the nation’s economic competitiveness, enable resilient and sustainable economies, and make possible the stewardship of managed and natural resources.

Dr. Wullschleger joined the ORNL Environmental Sciences Division in 1990 as the recipient of a DOE Alexander Hollaender Fellowship. His education is in forest biology (BS and MS, Colorado State University) and crop physiology (PhD, University of Arkansas). He has spent more than 30 years at ORNL conducting research in the sustainable use of herbaceous and woody bioenergy crops as a renewable source of transportation fuel; the fundamental investigations of plant biology using a variety of molecular approaches; and investigations into the physiological mechanisms by which terrestrial ecosystems respond to global environmental change. Dr. Wullschleger maintains an active research program and currently serves as Director for the DOE-sponsored Next-Generation Ecosystem Experiments (NGEE Arctic) project.