Botanical Society of America Awards 2003

We are pleased to announce the recipients of the 2003 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.

Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America

The "Distinguished Fellow of the Botanical Society of America" is the highest honor our Society can bestow. Each year, the Distinguished Fellow 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.

This year we are pleased to honor:

Dr. Spencer C.H. Barrett, University of Toronto

For his myriad contributions to reproductive biology, plant breeding systems and aquatic ecology. He established heterostyly as a model system in reproduction, contributed to understanding of the evolutionary modification of floral development, genetic structure of populations, the role of incompatibility in the breeding systems of natural populations, the evolution of dioecy and the influence of gender ratio in determining plant breeding systems. In addition to his service as Associate Editor and Book Review Editor of the American Journal of Botany, he mentored a generation of plant biologists, including 2 Master's students, 9 Ph.D. students and 6 postdoctoral associates who have occupied faculty positions.

Dr. Jack B. Fisher, Fairchild Tropical Garden

The 30 years of contributions made to botany by Dr. Fisher have been broad, deep, original, and patient. He has carefully combined anatomical, developmental, physiological, and ecological considerations, to show how tropical plants grow and adapt. He has made critical contributions to our understanding of water transport in lianas and fundamental discoveries on the developmental basis of tropical tree geometry. In the same way that he has waited patiently for tree seedlings to mature and yield their anatomical secrets, he has worked for 20 years to forge alliances between Fairchild Botanical Garden and institutions of higher learning to promote education of the next generation of comparative botanists. Dr. Fisher has benefited botany through his research and his thoughtful outreach and he richly deserves recognition through a BSA Merit Award for these admirable accomplishments.

Dr. Leslie G. Hickok, University of Tennessee

Dr. Hickok has made a career out of defying the odds and generating surprises. While others were intimidated by the high chromosome numbers of ferns, he showed that valuable insights into polyploidy and speciation could be obtained by studying their cytogenetics. While the mainstream focused attention on Arabidopsis as a plant model system, Hickok promoted the unique properties of the fern Ceratopteris. His pioneering work on selection and mutation using this model demonstrated the power of a system that separated gametophytic and sporophytic life stages. More recently, he has succeeded in marrying his deep commitment to advancing botanical knowledge and his desire to provide meaningful, enriching experiences for biology students. Through his insight and perseverance, he transformed Ceratopteris into C-fern, and now over 60,000 students per year are learning about plant genetics using this inexpensive but effective teaching system. Dr. Hickok is a distinguished scholar whose research and teaching efforts at all levels from K-12 to international seminars can be characterized as groundbreaking, inspirational, dedicated, and unselfish. For his outstanding contributions and longstanding generosity, the BSA is pleased to present a Merit Award to Dr. Leslie G. Hickok.

Dr. Jeffrey D. Palmer, University of Indiana

Dr. Palmer has excelled in his contributions to botanical science. His astonishing research productivity has resulted in over 200 scientific papers, many of them published in the most prestigious scientific journals. Dr. Palmer has fundamentally transformed the scientific landscape we now operate in through his legendary contributions to phylogenetics and gene and genome evolution. He has arguably been the most influential person in the development of the field of molecular systematics of plants and has been directly responsible for the paradigm shift in our current views of evolutionary relationships among eukaryotes, including higher plants. Other major contributions from his laboratory include the characterization and evolution of introns and plant mitochondrial genomes, the evolution of plastid genes in non-photosynthetic plants, and the origin and evolution of chloroplasts. The list of the graduate students and post-docs trained in his laboratory reads like a who's who of botanical science. His collaborative approach and willingness to share data has built a sense of community among plant molecular phylogenetics workers unparalleled in other fields of organismal biology. At the same time, Dr. Palmer has generously served as department chair at Indiana University as well as on review panels and editorial boards and has promoted outreach through his many public presentations. For his innovative and productive scientific contributions, Dr. Palmer has received many awards, among them the Wilhelmine Key Award from the American Genetic Association, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and an ISI Highly Cited Award for the top 15 most cited plant and animal scientists. In honor of his extraordinary accomplishments, the BSA is proud to present him with a Merit Award.

Charles Edwin Bessey Award (Teaching Section) -
Joseph Novak, University of West Florida, Pensacola

This award recognizes outstanding contributions to botanical instruction. The award was presented to Joseph Novak, University of West Florida, Pensacola, during the Education and Outreach Forum this past weekend.

Darbaker Prize -
Dr. John C. “Jack” Meeks, UC-Davis

This prize is given for meritorious work in the study of microscopic algae. This year’s award is given to Dr. John C. “Jack” Meeks, UC-Davis. The award recognizes his excellent work sequencing the genome of the important cyanobacterium, Nostoc, and his extensive studies on the Nostoc/Anthoceros symbiosis.

The Henry Allan Gleason Award -
Dr. Stephen J. Botti and Dr. Walter Sydoriak

Each year The New York Botanical Garden presents the Henry Allan Gleason Award for an outstanding publication in the field of plant taxonomy, plant ecology, or plant geography. The Gleason award for 2003 is presented to Dr. Stephen J. Botti and Dr. Walter Sydoriak for their book, An Illustrated Flora of Yosemite National Park published by the Yosemite Association, Yosemite National Park, CA. This publication combines excellence in both plant taxonomy and plant ecology, successfully bringing these two areas together in its focus on the conservation and use by the public at large.

George R. Cooley Award (Systematics Section and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists) -
Lucia Lohmann, University of Missouri-St. Louis

George R. Cooley award for best contributed paper in plant systematics. The ASPT's Cooley Award is given for the best paper in systematics given at the annual meeting by a botanist in the early stages of his/her career. Awards are made to members of ASPT who are graduate students or within 5 years of their post-doctoral careers. The Cooley Award is given for work judged to be substantially complete, synthetic and original. First authorship required; graduate students or those within 5 years of finishing their Ph.D. are eligible; must be a member of ASPT at time of abstract submission; only one paper judged per candidate. This year's award was given to Lucia Lohmann, University of Missouri-St. Louis, for her talk entitled "A new generic classification for Bignonieae (Bignoniaceae)".

Margaret Menzel Award (Genetics Section) -
Linda Jennings, University of British Columbia

The Margaret Menzel Award is present by the Genetics Section for the outstanding paper presented in the contributed papers sessions of the annual meetings. This year’s award goes to Linda Jennings, University of British Columbia, for her paper “Genetic, morphological and ecological variation within and between two Southern Utah endemics, Townsendia aprica and T. jonesii var. lutea (Asteraceae). Her co-author was Jeanette Whitton.

A.J. Sharp Award (Bryological and Lichenological Section) -
Dorothybelle Poli, University of Maryland

The A.J. Sharp Award is presented each year by the American Bryological and Lichenological Society and the Bryological and Lichenological Section for the best student presentation. The award, named in honor of the late Jack Sharp, encourages student research on bryophytes and lichens. This year’s A.J. Sharp Award goes to Dorothybelle Poli, University of Maryland, for her paper “Auxin regulation of axial growth in bryophyte sporophytes: Its potential significance for the evolution of early land plants.” Her co-authors were Mark Jacobs and Todd Cooke.

Edgar T. Wherry Award (Pteridological Section and the American Fern Society) -
Michael Barker, Miami University, Oxford

The Edgar T. Wherry Award is given for the best paper presented during the contributed papers session of the Pteridological Section. This award is in honor of Dr. Wherry’s many contributions to the floristics and patterns of evolution in ferns. This year’s award goes to Michael Barker from Miami University, Oxford, for his paper “Microlepidopteran soral mimics in the Caribbean.” The paper was co-authored by Shane Shaw, James Hickey, and John Rawlins.

Lawrence Memorial Award -
Ms. Sarah Edwards, University of London

The Lawrence Memorial Fund was established at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, to commemorate the life and achievements of its founding director, Dr. George H. M. Lawrence. Proceeds from the Fund are used to make an annual Award in the amount of $2000 to a doctoral candidate to support travel for dissertation research in systematic botany or horticulture, or the history of the plant sciences. The Lawrence Memorial Award for 2002 goes to Ms. Sarah Edwards, a student of Dr. Michael Heinrich at the University of London. For her dissertation research, Ms. Edwards has undertaken a study of the medical ethnobotany, from plant systematics to indigenous taxonomy, of the Wic and Kugu peoples of the Cape York Peninsula. The proceeds of the Award will support her travel in Australia for field work.

John S. Karling Graduate Student Research Awards

The Karling Awards support graduate student research and are made on the basis of research proposals and letters of recommendations. This year we gave out 11 awards. Recipients are:

Mario Blanco,
Kuo-Fang Chung,
Laurie Cosaul,
Laurelin Evanhoe,
Susan Grose,
Shawn Krosnick,
Jeffrey Morawetz,
Julieta Rosell,
Jackeline Salazar,
Tyler Smith,
Jay Walker

Isabel Cookson Award (Paleobotanical Section) -
Michael Dunn, Ohio University, Athens

The 2003 Isabel Cookson Award, recognizing the best student paper presented in the Paleobotanical Section, is awarded to Michael Dunn of Ohio University, Athens, for his paper entitled “The Fayetteville Flora of Arkansas, USA: An Upper Mississippian … plant fossil assemblage with permineralized and compression remains.”

Katherine Esau Award (Developmental and Structural Section) -
Wanda Kelly, University of Maryland, College Park

This award was established in 1985 with a gift from Dr. Esau and is augmented by ongoing contributions from Section members. It is given to the graduate student who presents the outstanding paper in developmental and structural botany at the annual meeting. This year’s award goes to Wanda Kelly from the University of Maryland, College Park, for her paper “Geometrical relationships specifying the phyllotactic pattern of aquatic plants.” Her co-author was Todd Cooke.

Maynard Moseley Award (Paleobotanical and Developmental and Structural Sections) -
Stefan Little, University of Alberta, Edmonton

The Maynard F. Moseley Award was established in 1995 to honor a career of dedicated teaching, scholarship, and service to the furtherance of the botanical sciences. Dr. Moseley, known to his students as “Dr. Mo”, died this Jan. 16 in Santa Barbara, CA, where he had been a professor since 1949. He was widely recognized for his enthusiasm for and dedication to teaching and his students, as well as for his research using floral and wood anatomy to understand the systematics and evolution of angiosperm taxa, especially waterlilies. (PSB, Spring, 2003). The award is given to the best student paper, presented in either the Paleobotanical or Developmental and Structural sessions, that advances our understanding of plant structure in an evolutionary context. This year’s award goes to Stefan Little from University of Alberta, Edmonton, for his paper “Permineralized fruits of Lauraceae from the Middle Eocene Princeton chert, British Columbia.” Stefan’s co-author is Ruth Stockey.

Ecology Section Award -
Jenise Snyde, Florida International University

The Ecological Section Award for the best student presentation in the Ecological Section sessions goes to Jenise Snyder from Florida International University, for her paper “Spikelet phenology and floral compatibility of sawgrass, Cladium jamaicense (Cyperaceae) in the south Florida Everglades”. Her co-author was Jennifer Richards.

Ecology Section Award -
Christina Coleman, Auburn University

The Ecological Section Award for the best student poster goes to Christina Coleman, Auburn University for her poster “Herbivore defense as an explanation for hyperaccumulation: Relative heavy metal toxicity to diamond back moth (Plutella xylostella). Her co-author was Robert Boyd.

Genetics Section Poster Award -
Liu Xianan, University of Illinois

The Genetics Section Poster Award is given for the best student poster at the annual meetings.
This year’s award is given to Liu Xianan, University of Illinois, for the poster “Differential expression of genes regulated in response to abiotic-stress in sunflower.” Co-authors were Ginger Swire-Clark and Vance Baird.