Botanical Society of America Awards 2009
We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2009
awards provided by the Botanical Society of America. Here we provide
recognition for outstanding efforts and contributions to the science
of botany. We thank you for your support of these programs.
Botanical Society of America AWARDS
Botanical Society of America Merit Awards |
Graduate Student Research Awards |
Young Botanist Awards
Named AWARDS
Charles Edwin Bessey Teaching Award |
Vernon I. Cheadle STAs |
Triarch (Conant) "Botanical Images" STAs |
John S. Karling & BSA Graduate Student Research Awards |
Margaret Menzel Award |
Grady L. Webster Award
Sectional AWARDS
Student Travel Awards -
Developmental & Structural |
Ecological |
Genetics |
Pteridological Section & American
Fern Society
Student Presentation, Poster and Research Awards -
Genetics Section Graduate Student Research Awards
The Botanical Society of America's MERIT
AWARD
The Botanical Society of America Merit Award is the highest honor our Society
bestows. Each year, the Merit Award Committee solicits nominations,
evaluates candidates, and selects those to receive an award. Awardees
are chosen based on their outstanding contributions to the mission
of our scientific Society. The committee identifies recipients who
have demonstrated excellence in basic research, education, public
policy, or who have provided exceptional service to the professional
botanical community, or who may have made contributions to a combination
of these categories.
Based on these stringent criteria, the 2009 BSA Merit Award recipients
are:
Dr. Norm Ellstrand, University of California, Riverside
The Botanical Society of America recognizes Dr. Norman C. Ellstrand
with the Merit Award for his studies on plant population genetics;
Ellstrand is one of the country's foremost experts on plant gene
flow, the movement of genes from one organism to another. His
research has involved the study of the possibility of escape of
genes from genetically engineered crops into their wild relatives
as well as the potential consequences of that escape.
Ellstrand's
work has shown that crops can mate with their wild relatives at
rates and distances much higher than previously supposed. He also
has shown that the hybrids are often more fit than suspected,
suggesting that once transgenes occur in hybrids they will spread
readily. Ellstrand has warned that if transgenes confer an advantage
to a weed, such as herbicide resistance, that weed will become
more difficult to control.
His recent research has come to focus
on the evolution of invasiveness in plants. He was among the first
to suggest that invasive species could evolve from relatively
innocuous progenitors. Ellstrand is the author of more than 100
peer-reviewed research papers and of the influential book Dangerous
Liaisons? When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives.
Norman Ellstrand is richly deserving of the Merit Award, the highest
award of the Botanical Society of America.
Dr. Alan Graham, Missouri Botanical Garden
The Botanical Society of America recognizes Dr. Alan K. Graham with the Merit Award for his lifetime of perceptive and careful study, by which Graham has laid the foundations for our "concepts about the origins and history of tropical vegetation" in the Western Hemisphere during the past 75 million years. Encouraging numerous students and colleagues for several decades, he has greatly advanced the field of vegetation history, the basis of our understanding the past migrations of plants and animals in North and South America, their evolution, and the way in which we should understand their present distributions. For his life's works, the Botanical Society of America awards Dr. Alan Graham with its highest award.
Dr. Gar Rothwell, Ohio University
The Botanical Society of America recognizes Professor Gar W. Rothwell with the Merit Award because he has demonstrated a level of professional commitment and accomplishment that we all strive to attain. He is a world-class scholar as judged by his peers, an effective and persuasive teacher as judged by his University and students, and an active and convincing advocate for the plant sciences as judged by the scientific community. As noted by one of his peers: Rothwell's "work with fossil ferns of many types…helped to more accurately define the three major radiations of true ferns and to sharpen the focus when molecular clade estimates and phylogenetic analyses based only on molecular data conflicted with each other." These individual, but highly intertwined activities in his career have been carried out at the highest level of professionalism and with a sense of purpose that is rarely matched. "Scholar, teacher, and extraordinary professional citizen" for the plant sciences underlines the distinguished career of Gar W. Rothwell, who so richly deserves the BSA's Merit Award.
Dr. Marsh Sundberg, Emporia State University
Professor Marshall D. Sundberg has demonstrated excellence in
basic research, education, and exceptional service to the professional
botanical community. His studies on the morphology of teosinte
and its relatives are considered stellar contributions. Sundberg
has made many valuable contributions to the Society, especially
to the teaching section (vice-chair, program chair and workshop
and section chair for many years) and as chair of the committee
which revised and expanded the valuable 1995 booklet, Careers
in Botany. This small booklet with large outreach for our
society and for educators provided the resources to help students
and professionals alike to understand the importance of a botanical
education and how they could apply it to their life's work. Professor
Sundberg has also chaired the Society's Education Committee, Membership
and Appraisal Committee and assumed editorial responsibility for
the Plant Science Bulletin. As the current editor of
our Bulletin, established in the 1950's as a vehicle for disseminating
information for our colleagues in the Plant Sciences, Marsh has
surpassed this goal with his choice of subject matter, editorial
insights and innovative reports. Marshall Sundberg is a notable
public ambassador, speaker, researcher and advocate for plant
biology at state, national, and international venues. Marshall
Sundberg has earned the Botanical Society of America Merit Award,
the highest honor our society can bestow on a colleague who has
made outstanding contributions to botanical science and dedicated
his career to our profession.
Charles Edwin Bessey Award
(BSA in association with the Teaching Section and Education Committee)
Dr. Roger Hangarter, Indiana University - Dr. Hangarter is the Class of 1968 Chancellor's Professor in the Department
of
Biology at Indiana University. Although he is foremost a botanical researcher
who studies how plants use light and gravity to regulate their growth and development,
he recognizes the synergistic relationship between research and teaching. He
is highly
committed to, and has been highly successful at, communicating botany to public
audiences. His Plants-In-Motion website provides a large collection of his
own time-lapse plant movies and educational materials for teachers and
students worldwide. He also develops visually compelling educational projects.
His work is exhibited in US science museums as well as art galleries. Using
time-lapse
photography, Dr. Hangarter has created movies allowing us to see that plants
are
living organisms capable of some extraordinary things. His time-lapse movies
provide
a unique opportunity to demonstrate the dynamics of plant life. Professor Hangarter
has shared his vision with the BSA at its annual meetings on several occasions—-
including his most memorable delivery of the 2006 Educational Forum and Outreach
plenary address entitled "Communicating an Awareness of Plants through
Science and
Art" at the Chico, CA meeting. In short, Dr. Roger P. Hangarter's significant
and
ever-evolving body of botany education work represents teaching innovation,
documented
national impact, attention to scientific quality, and a quest for public enlightenment.
Darbaker Prize The Darbaker Prize in Phycology is given each year in memory
of Dr. Leasure K. Darbaker. It is presented to
a resident of North America for meritorious work in the study
of microscopic algae based on papers published in English by the
nominee during the last two full calendar years. This year The Darbaker Award for meritorious work on microscopic algae is presented to:
Dr. Patrick Keeling, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Evolutionary Biology Program, Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Dr. Keeling’s research has contributed in a substantial and meaningful way in the area of organelle evolution, genetransfer, and genome evolution, including plastid evolution, in the microalgae of the Chromalveolates and Ulvophyceae.
Vernon I. Cheadle Student Travel
Awards (BSA in association with the Developmental and Structural
Section)
This award was named in honor of the memory and work of Dr. Vernon
I. Cheadle.
Madelaine Bartlett - University of California,
Berkeley, CA - Advisor, Dr. Chelsea Specht - Botany 2009 presentation:
"CYCLOIDEA-like
genes and the evolution of floral symmetry in the Zingiberales."
Brett A. Bergman - California State Polytechnic
University, Pomona, CA - Advisor, Dr. Frank W. Ewers - Botany
2009 presentation: "Effect
of Leaf Nodes on the Mechanical Properties of Stems."
Nathan Derieg - University of California, Santa
Barbara, CA - Advisor, Dr. Scott Hodges - Botany 2009 presentation:
"Molecular basis of an adaptive trait: floral anthocyanin production in Aquilegia."
Julia Nowak - University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC - Advisor, Dr. Quentin Cronk - Botany 2009 presentation:
"Morphological
oddity of the Krishna Fig."
Triarch "Botanical Images" Student
Travel Awards
This award provides acknowledgement and travel support to BSA meetings for
outstanding student work in the area of creating botanical digital images.
Mauricio Diazgranados, Saint Louis University,
St. Louis, MO - Advisor, Dr. Janet C. Barber - First
Place - $500 Botany 2009 Student Travel Award
Julia Nowak, University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC - Advisor, Dr. Quentin Cronk - Second
Place - $250 Botany 2009 Student Travel Award
James Cohen, Cornell University, NY - Advisor,
Dr. Joseph Williams - Third
Place - $150 Botany 2009 Student Travel Award
Margaret Menzel Award
(Genetics Section)
The Margaret Menzel Award is presented by the Genetics Section for the outstanding
paper presented in the contributed papers sessions of the annual meetings.
This year’s award goes to J. Chris Pires,
University of Missouri, for the paper “Homoeologous chromosome pairing and rearrangements adientified in allopolyploid Brassica napus by integrated BAC-FISH karyotype of diploid Brassica."
Co-author was Zhiyong Xiong.
Emanuel D. Rudolph Award (Historical
Section)
The Emanuel D. Rudolph Award is given by the Historical Section of the BSA for the best student presentation/poster of a historical nature at the annual meetings.
This year’s award goes to Mauricio Bonifacino, Universidad De La República, Montevideo, Uruguay, for his presentation: “Cassini the 5th, Master of Compositae: insight into his life and work.” Co-authors: Harold Robinson, Vicki A. Funk, Walter Lack, Gerhard Wagenitz, Christian Feuillet and Nicholas Hind.
THE 2009 GRADY L. WEBSTER AWARD
This award was established in 2006 by Dr. Barbara D. Webster, Grady’s wife,
and Dr. Susan V. Webster, his daughter, to honor the life and
work of Dr. Grady L. Webster. The American Society of Plant Taxonomists
and the Botanical Society of America are pleased to join together
in honoring Grady Webster.
Gregory J. Jordan, Peter H. Weston, Raymond J. Carpenter, Rebecca
A. Dillon and Timothy J. Brodribb
The
Evolutionary relationships of sunken, covered, and encrypted stomata
to dry habitats in Proteaceae
American Journal of Botany, 2008 95:521-530
The BSA Graduate Student Research
Award including the J. S. Karling Award
The BSA Graduate Student Research Awards support graduate student research
and are made on the basis of research proposals and letters of recommendations.
Withing the award group is the Karling Graduate Student Research Award. This
award was instituted by the Society in 1997 with funds derived through a generous
gift from the estate of the eminent mycologist, John Sidney Karling (1897-1994),
and supports and promotes graduate student research in the botanical sciences.
The 2008 award recipients are:
J. S. Karling Graduate Student Research
Award
Andrew B. Schwendemann, University of Kansas,
KS - Advisor, Dr. Thomas N. Taylor, Deep
time plant physiology and its implications for climate change
BSA Graduate Student Research Awards
Madelaine Bartlett, University of California,
Berkeley, CA - Advisor, Dr. Chelsea D. Specht, Evolution
of floral symmetry in the petaloid monocot order Zingiberales
Jessica M. Budke, University of Connecticut,
Storrs, CT - Advisor, Dr. Cynthia Jones, Examining
the matrotrophic calyptra and its role in moss sporophyte development
using Funaria hygrometrica L. (Bryophyta).
Ben R. Grady, University of Wisconsin, Madison,
WI - Advisor, Dr. Kenneth J. Sytsma, Systematics
and Edaphic Endemism in Eriogonum (Polygonaceae): An
Integrative Approach
Alison Hale, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh,
PA, - Advisor, Dr. Susan Kalisz, Testing
the stability of obligate mutualisms using the plant-arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi interaction as a model system
Robert G. Laport, University of Rochester,
Rochester, NY - Advisor. Dr. Justin Ramsey, Reproductive
Isolation in the North American Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata,
Zygophyllaceae)
Maribeth Latvis, University of Florida, Gainesville,
FL - Advisor, Drs. Pamela S. & Douglas E. Soltis, Tracking
Migration, Diversification, and Gene Losses Across North and South
America in Agalinis (Orobanchaceae)
Patricia Lu-Irving, University of Washington,
Seattle, WA - Advisors, Dr. Richard G. Olmstead, How
do shifts in dispersal strategy affect the distribution and diversification
of species? An example from the Lantana-Lippia complex
(Verbenaceae).
Nicole E. Miller, Washington University, St.
Louis, MO - Advisor, Dr. Peter Hoch, Stress-adaptation and competition for pollinators:
Implications for endemism
Alexandra Sasha Rohde, University of Pittsburgh,
Pittsburgh, PA, - Advisor, Dr. Tia-Lynn Ashman, Temperature
and Water Effects on Phenology and Opportunity for Positive Assortative
Mating in Plantago
Jane E. Ogilvie, University of Toronto, Toronto,
ON, Canada, - Advisor, Dr. James Thomson, Pollination Facilitation Subalpine in Gentians
Robert N. Schaeffer, Dartmouth College, Hanover,
NH, - Advisor, Dr. Rebecca Irwin, Direct
and indirect effects of nectar microbial communities on pollinator
behavior and plant fitness
Developmental & Structural Section
Student Travel Awards
Tyson Kerr, Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia - Botany 2009 presentation:
"Comparative MADS-box gene expression in Physocarpus opulifolius (Rosaceae)." Co-author: Rodger C. Evans
Jacob Landis, University of Kansas, Lawrance,
KS - Botany 2009 presentation: "Determining the genetic basis for petal-like sepals in a close relative of snapdragon." Co-authors: Laryssa Baldridge and Lena Hileman
Natalia Pabon Mora, Graduate Center CUNY/ New York Botanical Garden,
Bronx, NY
- Botany 2009 presentation: "Before the gene duplication event: addressing functional evolution of the APETALA1/FRUITFULL gene lineage in non-core eudicots." Co-author: Amy Litt
Developmental & Structural Section Best Student
Poster Award
Kerri Mocko, Miami University, for his poster, “Contrasting leaf shapes of Pelargonium species vary in extent of solar tracking.” Co-authors: Cynthia Jones and Adrienne Nicotra
Ecology Section Student Travel Awards
Kelsey L. Dunnell, North Dakota State University,
Fargo, ND - Advisor, Dr. Steven E. Travers - Botany 2009 presentation:
"Early
flowering of plants in the Northern Great Plains linked to increasing
spring temperatures over 100 years."
Amanda M. Kenney , University of Texas, Austin,
TX- Advisor, Dr. Thomas E. Juenger - Botany 2009 presentation:
"Selection
on water-use efficiency (WUE) in Ipomopsis aggregata
- an analysis of the functional relationships among WUE, other
ecological traits, and fitness."
Genetics Section Graduate Student
Research Awards
The 2009 recipients of the Genetics Section Graduate Student
Research Awards, each of which provides $500 for research funds
and an additional $500 for attendance at a future BSA meeting,
are:
Stein V. Servick, Department of Botany, University of Florida (PhD student)
Ashley Kuenzi, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cincinnati (MS Student)
Genetics Section Student Travel Awards
Susann Wicke, University of Vienna, Vienna,
Austria - Advisor, Dr. Dietmar Quandt & Dr. Gerald Schneeweiss
- Botany 2009 presentation: "From
the exception to the rule: the re-arrangement(s) of the nuclear
ribosomal DNA in land plants.."
Pteridological Section & American
Fern Society Student Travel Awards
Marian M. Chau, University of Hawai’i
at Manoa, Honolulu, HI – Dr. Thomas Ranker – Botany
2009 presentation: Restoration
genetics of the endangered fern Marsilea villosa: variation
among populations on two Hawaiian islands.
Amanda Grusz, Duke University, Durham, NC
– Dr. Kathleen Pryer – Botany 2009 presentation: A
Cheilanthes by any other name: Evolutionary complexity
in the New World myriopterid clade (Pteridaceae).
Erin Sigel, Duke University, Durham, NC –
Dr. Kathleen Pryer – Botany 2009 presentation: To
have or have not: using farina to delineate major clades within
the false cloak ferns (Argyrochosma).
Alejandra Vasco, The New York Botanical Garden,
Bronx, NY – Dr. Robbin Moran – Botany 2009 presentation:
Systematics
and phylogeny of Elaphoglossum section Lepidoglossum
H. Christ (Drypoteridaceae): search for natural groups.
The BSA Young Botanist Awards
The purpose of these awards are to offer individual recognition
to outstanding graduating seniors in the plant sciences and to
encourage their participation in the Botanical Society of America.
The 2009 "Certificate of Special Achievement"
award recipients are:
Andre Calaminus, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
- Advisor, Dr. Pamela S. Soltis
Julia I. Chapman, Ohio University, Athens,
OH - Advisor, Dr. Phil Cantino
Anna Dennis, Willamette University, Salem,
OR - Advisor, Dr. Dr. Susan R. Kephart
Brinton Domangue, James Madison University,
Harrisonburg, VA - Advisor, Dr. Conley K. McMullen
David Farler, Miami University, Oxford, OH
- Advisor, Dr. John Z. Kiss
Karl Gorzelnik, James Madison University, Harrisonburg,
VA - Advisor, Dr. Conley K. McMullen
Annie Hanks, Humboldt University, Eureka, Ca - Advisor,
Dr. Frank J. Shaughnessy
Lucas T. Henderson, Humboldt University, Eureka, Ca - Advisor,
Dr. Alexandru M. F. Tomescu
Richard LaMar Hederstrom, Connecticut College
- Advisor, T. Page Owen, Jr.
Jane A. Hopkins, Miami University, Oxford, OH
- Advisor, Dr. John Z. Kiss
Amelia Huerta, Miami University, Oxford, OH
- Advisor, Dr. John Z. Kiss
Emily Johnston, Ohio University, Athens, OH
- Advisor, Dr. Harvey E. Ballard, Jr.
William John Karis, Connecticut College
- Advisor, T. Page Owen, Jr.
Roxanna Khadem, University of California,
Los Angeles, CA - Advisor, Dr. Ann M. Hirsch
Ashley Klymiuk, University of Alberta, Edmonton,
AB, Canada - Advisor, Dr. Ruth A. Stockey
Adam Kotaich, Willamette University, Salem,
OR - Advisor, Dr. Susan R. Kephart
Meagan Lebeau, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh,
NY - Advisor, Dr. Chris Martine
Ralph McNeilage, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, TN - Advisor, Dr. Elias J. Fernandez
Megan Pallo, University of Missouri, Columbia. MO - Advisor,
Dr. J. Chris Pires
Adel Peña, Florida International University,
Miami, FL - Advisor, Dr. Suzanne Koptur
Valinn Joseph Vincent Ranelli, Connecticut College
- Advisor, T. Page Owen, Jr.
Deb Rojas, California State University, Chico, CA - Advisor,
Dr. Christopher T. Ivey
Laura Schmidt, Central Michigan University,
Mount Pleasant, MI - Advisor, Dr. Anna K. Monfils
Allison Schwartz, University of California,
Los Angeles, CA - Advisor, Dr. Ann M. Hirsch
Michael Schwieterman, Miami University, Oxford,
OH - Advisor, Dr. John Z. Kiss
Angela Schultz, University of Colorado, Denver,
CO - Advisor, Dr. Laurel Hartley
Michael R. Sekor, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY - Advisor,
Dr. Mark A. Schlessman
Molly Sultany, Willamette University, Salem,
OR - Advisor, Dr. Susan R. Kephart
Jennifer VanWyk, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie NY - Advisor,
Dr. Mark A. Schlessman
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