Dear alumni, It has been an honor for me to serve as the Chair of Botany and Director of Conservation Biology for the past four years. As my term comes to an end I find …
News
In appreciation of Donna Fernandez
Professor Donna Fernandez writes, “I’ve always felt privileged to be in a department where you can be a plant geek unapologetically, in whatever form that takes.” And the unapologetic plant geeks of the Department of …
Mark Wetter receives Judith Craig Distinguished Service Award
Each year UW-Madison’s College of Letters and Science recognizes a single member of the L&S Academic Staff with the Judith Craig Distinguished Service Award. The recipient must have at least 15 years of service and …
Mystified on a mountain
The tires on our Jeep barely grip the twin strips of overgrown asphalt. I catch myself asking the battered skid plates underneath to forgive my fondness for potholes. But there is hardly any room for evasion. On our left is an impenetrable green wall of trees, ferns, tree-ferns, and moss. To the right, a truncated grass verge reminds us of the shear 2,000 ft. plunge to the valley below. Rising fog obscures the ledge—and my anxiety.
Murder Mystery: When the Witness is a Tree
If a tree is witness to a murder, a translator is needed to get its testimony. Enter Alex Wiedenhoeft, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) Research Botanist and Team Leader in the Center for Wood Anatomy Research (CWAR).
Chair’s message to alumni
Dear alumni, This has been a challenging year for our department and across all of higher education, but the “safer at home” directive that forced us to complete the Spring 2020 semester via remote teaching …
Lifelike chemistry created in lab search for ways to study origin of life
Research in the Baum Lab shows that simple laboratory techniques can spur the kinds of reactions that are likely necessary to explain how life got started on Earth some four billion years ago.
Beautiful wonder
For botanist Ken Cameron, orchids fascinate as well as inspire him to further research in plant evolution and biodiversity.
Lofty Goals
Botany grad student Evan Eifler rediscovers Geissorhiza esterhuyseniae in the remote peaks of South Africa.
Arboretum Research Fellowship Recipients Announced
Congratulations to Botany PhD candidates Jared Beck and Rachel Jordan who were recently announced recipients of the Arboretum Research Fellowships! They will receive one year of support and access to Arboretum land and resources.