Current Position
Professor, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut.

Research Interests
Ecological and evolutionary processes underlying variation in plant morphology and anatomy, with emphasis on the vegetative plant body; plant functional traits; leaf shape.

BSA Service
Esau Karling Graduate Student Research Awards Committee (1998-2000); Developmental and Structural Section Treasurer (1997-2000) and Chair (2007-2010); Esau Award Committee (1992-1995, Chair 1995 and 2004-2006, Chair 2006); BSA Committee on Committees (1999-2001); Fund raising committee for the Donald Kaplan Memorial Lecture Series (2008 - 2016). Chair, Kaplan Lecture Committee (2017-2019). Search Committee for Editor-in-Chief of AJB, 2013. BSA Council Chair (2013-2015). Associate Editor for the American Journal of Botany (2011 - present); Ethics committee member for the American Journal of Botany (2015-present). Symposium Organizer, BOTANY 2018: 100 years of Baileyan Trends: Wood Evolution, Function and Future.

Other Service
National Science Foundation Panel Member (several panels); Editorial Board for BioScience. Co-instructor, Arnold Arboretum Summer Short Courses in Organismal Plant Biology (2016-2019); Director, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Biodiversity Greenhouses, University of Connecticut.

Statement of Interest:
The BSA has been my professional home since my first BSA meeting as a graduate student. Since then, I have attended almost every annual meeting and served in a variety of capacities, and I would consider it an honor to serve the Society in the capacity of President-Elect, President, and Past-President. The BSA has done a remarkable job remaining relevant, visible and welcoming in this impersonal age of information overload. One of my goals would be to seek ways to further promote the BSA as a leading, international organization for basic botanical research. To this end, I am thrilled that the BSA has recently expanded its support for graduate student research and I would work toward increasing capacity to support research for scientists at other career stages as well. Equally important is building the BSA by engaging and supporting “plant ambassadors” of all types, be they highly engaged amateurs, educators, horticulturalists or researchers—we can all help cure “plant blindness.” Finally, I would like to explore possibilities for more actively training in communicating science for BSA members.