Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America

Professor Margaret E. Collinson, Royal Holloway University of London, is an internationally known and respected plant paleobiologist. She has been elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and serves as a corresponding Member of the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung (Germany) and Honorary Research Fellow of the Natural History Museum (London). Her work is broad and multidisciplinary, covering paleobotany, plant systematics, paleoecology, plant-animal interactions in the past, and plant biochemistry. Particularly noteworthy contributions include early Cenozoic vegetation history, the fossil record of ferns, and highlighting the importance of fire in paleoecoystems. Because of these diverse interests, in many ways Prof. Collinson is an ambassador of botany by continuously showing its relevance to other disciplines such as Earth sciences and paleontology, while also making novel contributions to traditional botanical sciences. In addition to her scholarly work, Prof. Collinson is a tireless and dedicated teacher, and a mentor and supporter of paleobotany. She has been recognized with undergraduate teaching awards, mentored numerous young scientists, and does not distinguish between those who are her own students and those who are not. The 13 PhD students she has graduated to date have all remained involved in science or education, several of them becoming accomplished scientists in their own right. Prof. Collinson served as the President of the International Organization of Paleobotany as well as taking on leadership roles in other organizations. To quote one letter, "Her creativity, incredible productivity and warm collegiality together conspire to make her an excellent example of those who would be recipients of this award."

Professor Don Levin has been enormously productive and influential in diverse areas of research at the interface of population genetics, hybridization, breeding system biology, defense mechanisms, and polyploidy. He has an exceptional record of achievement in research that is recognized both nationally and internationally; this impressive record has stretched for half a century and continues today. Don is a world leader in research and one of the leading botanical figures of our time. Some of the most influencial papers and books in plant evolutionary biology over the past several decades were written by Don. There are few researchers possessing such diverse expertise who do so many things so well and have made such major contributions in so many areas of plant biology.

Jonathan Wendel is one of the world’s leading researchers studying the genetics and genomics of plant polyploidy, particularly in cotton and other species of the genus Gossypium, which has been the focus of much of his work. His nearly 250 papers span a staggeringly broad range of topics, not only on polyploidy but on phylogenetics, systematic theory, maize genetics, crop evolution, and taxonomy, to name only a few. His work has always been at the leading edge of his fields of interest, beginning with isozymes and moving seamlessly into the DNA era from its beginnings with restriction enzymes, through manual sequencing, and on into the current “next generation” high-throughput phase of comparative genomics. Jonathan has been noted throughout his career for sharing his technical and theoretical insights in incisive and lucid review papers. He is an excellent colleague and valued collaborator, generously giving of his time and boundless energy to further the work and careers of others, and serving as an organizer of important conferences and symposia. Jonathan is also an engaged mentor of graduate and undergraduate students and visiting scientists. He is a distinguished lecturer and educator, and someone who has contributed tremendous service to his institution, having served as chair of Iowa State University’s Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology since 2003. To quote from three of his supporting letters, Jonathan Wendel is “one of the very elite plant evolutionary biologists in the world”, whose work “has spanned decades and has resulted in a new synthesis of views on the genetic and genomic consequences of polyploidy”; “He is a leading light in plant genome evolution.”

Dr. Donoghue is a world-renowned botanist and a tireless champion of phylogenetics, evolution, and biodiversity research. He is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2005) and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2008), and most recently was awarded the prestigious Dahlgren Prize in Botany from the Royal Physiographic Society of Sweden (2011). Donoghue has consistently been ahead of his time—an intellectual leader in the development of new theory and approaches in systematics, species concepts, character evolution, historical biogeography, lineage diversification, and phylogenetic nomenclature. His ideas are always provocative; he has consistently rocked the boat, inspired debate, and moved all of us toward more rigorous thought.

His prodigious research career (he has published hundreds of papers) is matched by his inspired, continual service to our community, including many years in the Directorships of the Harvard University Herbaria and the Yale Peabody Museum. He has also trained and mentored dozens of students and post-doctoral associates, many of whom are now leaders themselves. All of his nomination letters make special note of how naturally Michael inspires his colleagues—and the botanical community at large—with his ideas and creativity, his enthusiasm, and his enormous generosity.

Professor James A. (Jim) Doyle is recognized for his many distinguished contributions to paleobotany, particularly palynology, and to the understanding of angiosperm phylogeny.  Doyle and his associates demonstrated that, worldwide, the Cretaceous fossil record shows the primary adaptive radiation events of early angiosperm evolution.  One of his most valuable insights, derived from both cladistic analysis and stratigraphy, was the observation that angiosperms with tricolpate and tricolpate-derived pollen corresponded to a clade of angiosperms that included the vast majority of living flowering plants.  The existence of such a clade, the eudicots, has subsequently been strongly supported by molecular analyses and the concept has made its way into modern botany and biology textbooks.  Throughout his career and continuing into retirement, Prof. Doyle has shown himself to be an outstanding and inspiring teacher, at both the undergraduate and graduate level.  His lectures are meticulously organized, expertly delivered, and focused on principals yet packed with details.  His quirky sense of humor emerges and students are left amazed by how much they learned. Prof. Doyle trained nine graduate students over his career, and mentored innumerable other graduate students, postdocs, and faculty colleagues.  

Dr. Jeffrey Doyle is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of theoretical and phylogenetic plant molecular systematics and molecular evolution. Over the past several decades he has consistently been at the forefront of the field of molecular plant systematics, contributing not only innovative methods, but also conceptual advances, as well as new empirical findings that have led to an improved understanding of plant diversity.  One letter writer notes that Dr. Doyle has  “an astonishing…record of insightful and sustained scientific achievement and has an immense impact on the direction of our field.” Dr. Doyle has made major contributions to clarifying evolutionary relationships among the legumes, the evolution of nodulation and also on the significance of polyploidy. Importantly, one letter writer notes that Dr. Doyle’s “commitment to undergraduate education is every bit as impressive as his research and scholarship.”  Jeff was not only an effective undergraduate teacher but also held a major administrative position at Cornell, Director of the Office of Undergraduate Biology. 

Dr. Charles Beck is a distinguished paleontologist who has made remarkable discoveries in the history of land plants.  He discovered that the fern-like leaves of the genus Archaeopteris were in fact borne on a tree (Callixylon) with the anatomy of a gymnosperm.  This supported the viewpoint that seed plants were derived from free-sporing plants, and led to the identification of the progymnosperms, a group now included with gymnosperms and angiosperms in the larger clade, the lignophytes.   One of the people who nominated Dr. Beck for the award quoted Henry Andrews in saying that this discovery “blazed a rough trail through a dark forest where no recognizable path existed before.”  In addition, Dr. Beck is a skilled anatomist. After he “retired” from his position as Professor of Botany at the University of Michigan, he continued research.  In addition, he wrote a textbook, An introduction to plant structure and development, now in its second edition.  Dr. Beck has also served as Chair of his department, Director of the Museum of Paleontology, and as President of the International Organization of Paleobotany, and as Chair of the Paleobotanical Section of the BSA.