Hampton named chair of NSF advisory committee

By Alyssa Patrick, Office of Research

Stephanie HamptonPULLMAN, Wash. – Stephanie Hampton, director of WSU’s Center for Environmental Research Education and Outreach, was recently named chair of the National Science Foundation biological sciences advisory committee.

“Stephanie’s experience working with interdisciplinary teams will be important for the biological sciences advisory committee (BIO AC),” said Kay Gross, the outgoing chair. “She also brings unique leadership skills that will help navigate the complexities of working across disciplines and agencies.”

The BIO AC provides recommendations to the NSF concerning support for research, education and human resources in the biological sciences. BIO provides about 66 percent of federal funding for nonmedical, basic research at academic institutions in the life sciences.

“Work on this committee is very energizing,” Hampton said. “We have opportunities to see a wide range of the inspiring biological research and training that NSF supports, as well as the diverse and sometimes surprising benefits to society of these innovations.”

As committee chair, she will serve as a liaison between the committee and the NSF biological sciences director, and oversee committee activities.

“The committee members are really excited about the work others are doing, and routinely champion work done outside of their disciplines,” Hampton said. “They take seriously the responsibility to think deeply and talk candidly about how each opportunity can best be promoted now and in the future.”

Hampton joined the committee in 2016, and her current appointment will be extended to 2020 as she takes on this new role. In addition to running WSU’s Center for Environmental Research Education and Outreach and chairing BIO AC, Hampton also leads regional efforts to collaborate across northwest universities to find solutions to food-water-energy nexus challenges.

Hampton’s research background is in aquatic sciences, statistical analysis and environmental informatics. She has analyzed long-term ecological data collected from lakes as globally diverse as Lake Baikal in Siberia and Lake Washington in Seattle. Prior to joining WSU, Hampton was deputy director of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at U.C. Santa Barbara. She earned her doctorate from Dartmouth College’s Department of Biological Sciences, her master’s from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and bachelor’s from the University of Kansas.

 

Media Contact:

  • Stephanie Hampton, director of WSU’s Center for Environmental Research Education and Outreach, 509-335-6750, s.hampton@wsu.edu.