Dr. Niklaus J. Grünwald is a Research Plant Pathologist and a courtesy Professor in the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and the Center for Quantitative Life Sciences at Oregon State University. He received his Ph.D. in plant pathology (University of California at Davis) and conducted postdoctoral research (Cornell University). His principal research interests include the ecology, genetics and management of emerging and re-emerging Phytophthora diseases affecting ornamental and nursery crops with emphasis on the Sudden Oak Death pathogen Phytophthora ramorum and the Irish famine pathogen P. infestans.

He has started working on projects involving oomycete biodiversity, whole genome sequencing of the genus Phytophthora, and development of computational and bioinformatics tools for comparative genomics, genotyping-by-sequencing, population genomics and metabarcoding. Grünwald currently serves as founding editor-in chief for CABI Agriculture and Bioscience. He has held leadership positions like chair of the APS Publications Board overseeing all APS journals that launched the new Phytobiomes open access journal. He currently runs as vice president of the American Phytopathological Society (APS).