On Feb. 25, 2008, Oregon State University’s James Carrington, a professor of botany and plant pathology and a pioneer in the study of “small RNA” in genetic regulation, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and also received a prestigious MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health to provide long-term support for his research.

Today, Carrington is president and Chief Executive Officer of the Donald Danforth Plant Science. Prior to joining the Danforth Center, he served as director of the Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing (CGRB), the Stewart Professor for Gene Research, and Distinguished Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University.