About Our Instructors

Jim André has served as Director of the University of California’s Granite Mountains Desert Research Center since 1994. Jim’s academic training is in plant ecology, taxonomy, and rare plant population biology. With 35 years of experience conducting floristic studies throughout the desert southwest, Jim has contributed 45,000 herbarium specimens and discovered and published several species new to science. He is author of floras of the Mojave National Preserve and San Bernardino County Desert Region (in press) and is currently working on a Flora of the Mojave Desert, a lifelong endeavor that spans four states. Jim has been a strong advocate for native plant conservation and serves as the Senior Advisor to the California Native Plant Society’s Rare Plant Program. He is a frequent lecturer and field instructor and has taught numerous workshops through the Jepson Herbarium at UC Berkeley.

Heath Bartosh is Co‐Founder and Senior Botanist of Nomad Ecology, based in Martinez, California, and a Research Associate at the University and Jepson Herbaria at UC Berkeley. After graduating from Humboldt State University, Heath began his career as a professional botanist in 2002 and has been an earnest student of the California flora for nearly 20 years. His general research interests are in California vascular plant floristics with a focus on distribution, soil and geologic relationships, endemism, regional and local rarity, and habitat conservation. At a more specific level, his primary interests are floristics of the California Coast Ranges and the fire-following annual plant species found there. His research on post-fire floras focuses on the composition and duration of the eruptive dominance and subsequent fleeting abundance of annual plant species at regional scales within the California Coast Ranges. In 2009, he also became a member of the Rare Plant Program Committee at the state level of CNPS, helping to develop current and accurate information on the distribution, ecology, and conservation status of California's rare and endangered plants and promoting the use of this information to influence plant conservation in California.

Linda Beidleman has an M.S. in Biology from Rice University. She is co-author of Plants of the San Francisco Bay Region and Plants of Rocky Mountain National Park. She has worked with the California Native Plant Society, especially as co-supervisor for the CNPS East Bay plant nursery. Linda has taught short flora and ornithology courses for the Rocky Mountain National Park and the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies.

Rauri C. K. Bowie is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Curator of Birds in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley. For as long as he can remember, he has been fascinated by why animals are distributed unevenly around the globe. Much of his research has centered on documenting and studying patterns of species diversity and distribution across heterogeneous landscapes, particularly those inherent to mountains, savannas, and rocky shores. The bulk of his research takes place in tropical habitats in Africa, Central American and Indonesia, as well as across temperate California.

Matt Bowker is an associate professor in the School of Forestry at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. His research touches on many aspects of soil ecology, with a current focus on ecological restoration techniques. His most frequent study systems are biological soil crusts (biocrusts), cryptic photosynthetic soil surface communities that may be composed of cyanobacteria, lichens, and bryophytes among other organisms that form a "living skin" over the soil.

Tom Carlberg has a degree in botany from Humboldt State University and has always leaned towards nonvascular organisms. He has been a cryptogamic botanist for 18 years, and has worked for the Forest Service, private contractors, and non-profit organizations. His ongoing interest is mapping the range and distribution of lichen species across California. He has submitted more than two thousand lichen specimens to public and government herbaria. His immediate attention is on the communities of crustose lichens that grow on evergreen leaves of trees and shrubs in the hypermaritime temperate forests of California’s northwest coast. He is the President of the California Lichen Society, where he advocates that even neophytes can contribute to the understanding of California’s lichen flora, much of which still remains to be discovered. He is the President of the California Lichen Society (CALS) and the past Editor of its Bulletin, and a member of the British Lichen Society, the American Bryological and Lichenological Society, and the CALS Conservation Committee.

J. Travis Columbus is a Research Scientist at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Professor of Botany at Claremont Graduate University. He earned his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, where he studied Bouteloua (Poaceae) and related taxa. His current research focuses on the evolution and classification of grasses and buckwheats (Polygonaceae).

Rollin Coville received his Ph.D. degree in Entomology from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978. He recently retired from AT&T where he served as a systems analyst and programmer. For more than 25 years his primary outside interest has been photographing insects and spiders. He also has a strong interest in the biology and behavior of Hymenoptera and has published papers on Trypoxylon wasps and Centris bees.

Kirsten Fisher is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Cal State LA, where she has been a faculty member since 2008. She earned her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2004 and her research interests revolve around the molecular ecology of a desert moss species, Syntrichia caninervis. She is the curator of the CSLA Herbarium and a Research Associate at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden.

Naomi Fraga is Director of Conservation Programs at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, California. She has been studying plants of the Mojave Desert for over 15 years. Her research interests include plant geography, conservation biology, rare plants of western North America, and taxonomy of monkeyflowers (Phrymaceae). She is particularly interested in the flora of the Mojave Desert and the arid west. Naomi received her Ph.D. in Botany from Claremont Graduate University and she also holds a M.S. in Botany from Claremont Graduate University and a B.S. in Botany and Biology from California Polytechnic University, Pomona. Naomi serves on the board of the Amargosa Conservancy, as Secretary for the Southern California Botanists, and is a council member for the American Society of Plant Taxonomists.

Gordon Frankie is Professor of Insect Biology in the College of Natural Resources at UC Berkeley. He received his Ph.D. in Entomology from UC Berkeley. His research interests are in plant reproductive biology, pollination ecology, and solitary-bee biology. His field research is split equally between California and the seasonally dry tropical forests of Costa Rica. He teaches both lecture and field courses in Applied Conservation Biology at UC Berkeley and in Costa Rica.

Matteo Garbelotto is Adjunct Full Professor in ESPM (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) at UC Berkeley and is the Statewide Forest Pathologist of the entire UC System. He is a recognized authority on root diseases as well as on forest Phytophthoras. His field of expertise is primarily on the evolutionary processes leading to biological invasions and on approaches to uncover pathways of global movement of microbes. He has published close to 200 scientific publications and has been a pioneer in the field of molecular diagnostic of plant pathogens. Currently he is recognized for his genomic and Citizen Science projects. He has advised on policy issues regarding the introduction and regulation of plant pathogens for countries around the world and is currently a member-at-large of the European Food Safety Authority. He has been recognized twice by the International Society of Arboriculture as the most relevant scientist of the year. Because of his work on Sudden Oak Death, he received a proclamation by the California State Assembly, and he has been declared oak savior by the City and County of San Francisco. He has received the unsung hero award by San Francisco Tomorrow and, recently, he received the US Western Extension Directors Association Award of Excellence. Matteo is a Fulbright Scholar and has two Masters and a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in Plant Pathology. Besides being a faculty member at U.C. Berkeley, he has been a visiting scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and a visiting professor at the University of Turin. He has been a visiting scientist at the Museum of Natural History in Venice (Italy) where he still holds an honorary curator position for its extensive fungal collection.

Terry Huffman was the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's (Corps) Chief Wetlands Scientist responsible for the development of technology directed toward assisting the Corps's Regulatory Program. While at the Corps’ Environmental Laboratory in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Dr. Huffman developed the wetlands definition currently in use by the Corps and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404 Regulatory Program and conducted research and development activities which pioneered the use of multiple field indicators to determine the presence of wetland vegetation, soil, and hydrology conditions. This seminal work led to the development of the wetland delineation methodology in use by the Corps and EPA today. As noted in the preface to the Corps’ 1987 Wetlands Delineation Manual, Part II of the Manual is based on Dr. Huffman’s 1980 paper entitled Multiple Parameter Approach to the Field Identification and Delineation of Wetlands. He has also served as a technical member for the Regional Water Quality Control Board’s (RWQCB) Technical Advisory Team, which developed state wetlands, stream, and riparian definitions; identification criteria, indicator methodology; and technical memorandum for RWQCB regulatory use. Founder of the private consulting firm Huffman-Broadway Group, he has conducted wetland and other waters (aquatic resources) jurisdictional boundary determinations using various agency required methodologies, reviewed and developed regulatory programs and procedures, and developed evidence for litigation and provided expert testimony.

Julie Kierstead has spent her career promoting the discovery, enjoyment, and conservation of the flora of the western United States. From 1989 through 2019, she was Forest Botanist for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in Northern California. Before that, she started the Berry Botanic Garden Seed Bank for Rare and Endangered Plants of the Pacific Northwest. Julie’s current focus is to encourage exploration and understanding of the Klamath Mountains flora. In recent years, she has collaborated on publishing several newly discovered plants of the Klamath Mountains, including Shasta huckleberry (Vaccinium shastense), Shasta maidenhair fern (Adiantum shastense), and Shasta fawn lily (Erythronium shastense). She instigated a taxonomic overhaul of the stonecrop (Sedum) section Gormania, resulting in a revision of the group. In 2019, Julie discovered a distinctive new species of Phacelia from the mountains of western Shasta County, soon to be published under the name Phacelia damnatio. Julie has contributed over 2,300 free-use photos to CalPhotos and many hundreds of voucher specimens from the Klamath and Cascade Ranges to California herbaria. She is a member of the Rare Plant Program Committee at the state level of CNPS and sits on the Board of Directors of Northern California Botanists.

Al Keuter is a UC Davis graduate who began studying California red oaks in 2013. Hoping to better understand the complex taxonomic relationships within this difficult group, Al focuses on their morphological characteristics. Al also spends time each week as vascular plants curator at the UC Santa Cruz herbarium. Learn more about Al here.

Tasha La Doux attended UC San Diego to receive her B.S. in Ecology, Behavior, & Evolution in 1995, then received a Ph.D. in Botany from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (Claremont Graduate University) in 2004. She started working for the UC Natural Reserve System in 2007, continues to serve as the park botanist for Joshua Tree NP, and holds a Research Associate position at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. She has worked as a botanist in the arid lands of the Southwest since 1998 with special focus on plant mating systems, population genetics, desert floristics, and rare plant monitoring. Her floristic work at Joshua Tree National Park over the last 15 years has resulted in over 120 newly added species to the flora, and 1000’s of new rare plant localities, range extensions, and new county records. Over the years, she has been invited to numerous events to speak on desert floristics, taught many botanical workshops, and led 100’s of students each year on field trips in the California deserts.

Paul Manos is Professor and Bass Fellow at Duke University. He has been teaching field courses for over 15 years in the areas of plant communities, biodiversity, and systematics. Dr. Manos's research interests include biogeography, genetics, and evolution. He specializes in the study of woody plants, in particular the oak family and their relatives.

Jesse Miller has spent many years working as a botanist and lichenologist across California and the Pacific Northwest. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in integrative biology with an emphasis in plant ecology. He is currently a lecturer at Stanford, where he teaches ecology. His research interests include studying the effects of global change factors such as altered fire regimes on lichen and plant communities. Jesse loves sharing his passion for the natural world with others and enjoys contributing to Northern California’s growing community of lichen enthusiasts.

Kathy Ann Miller has loved seaweeds since her first phycology class at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. She earned her B.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Botany at UC Berkeley with advisors Paul C. Silva and Donald Kaplan. Her extensive time in the field over the last 40 years and her dedication to making specimens for the herbarium are the foundation of her knowledge of the seaweed flora of California, her chief research subject. Kathy Ann is the Curator of Algae at the University Herbarium, UC Berkeley.

Brent D. Mishler is Director of the University and Jepson Herbaria as well as a Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology, where he teaches courses in phylogenetics, plant diversity, and island biology. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1984. His research interests are in the systematics, evolution, and ecology of bryophytes, especially the diverse moss genus Syntrichia, as well as in the phylogeny of green plants, spatial analysis of biodiversity, and theory of systematics.

Tom Parker is an ecologist who works with plant community dynamics. He was trained at the University of Texas (B.A.) and UC Santa Barbara (M.A., Ph.D.) and is currently a Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University. His research emphasizes plant community dynamics, especially dispersal, seed banks, and seedling establishment. His current projects focus on mycorrhizal fungal mutualists, seed dispersal, and wetland ecology. His research in chaparral forced him to be able to identify Arctostaphylos species, and he's enjoyed them ever since. His serious collecting and systematics work began more than 25 years ago

Jaime Pawelek has a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and has worked in the Urban Bee Lab with Dr. Gordon Frankie since 2005. She is now the labs’ primary taxonomist identifying bees from all over California, as well as Costa Rica. Jaime is a Research Affiliate with the Essig Museum, teaches in-depth taxonomic workshops at the Cheadle Center in Santa Barbara and identifies bees for various researchers in California and all across the U.S. Jaime also designs pollinator-friendly gardens, leads medicinal herb walks, and teaches gardening classes to budding herbalists.

Carl Rothfels is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and the Curator of Pteridophytes at the University Herbarium. A recent transplant to California, he was born and raised in southern Ontario (Canada) and received his Ph.D. from Duke University. His research focuses on the evolution of ferns and lycophytes, with particular interests in the fern family Cystopteridaceae, desert ferns in the genus Notholaena, and the processes of polyploidy and reticulation (hybridization).

Teresa Sholars is a Professor Emeritus from College of the Redwoods in Fort Bragg, California, where she taught classes in identification and ecology of the Mendocino Coast flora, along with mushroom identification and ecology for over 40 years. She is the rare plant and vegetation chair for the Dorothy King Young chapter of CNPS and a retired botanical and ecological consultant. Currently, she is an Adjunct Professor and Curator at the Mendocino College Coast Center Herbarium and Natural History Collection. Teresa is leading a group of volunteers to do relevé surveys to classify the coastal terraces. She is co-author of the treatment for perennial Lupinus in the first edition of The Jepson Manual, author of Lupinus in the second edition of The Jepson Manual, and author of the new perennial Lupinus treatment for Flora of North America North of Mexico.

Mandy Slate is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is broadly interested in understanding how changing environmental conditions influence how plants function and interact. Most of her research involves mosses or biological soil crusts.

Morgan Stickrod has a strong passion for the diversity of the California Floristic Province and feels fortunate to have studied the region's flora as a consulting botanist. He is currently a graduate student at San Francisco State University, finishing his thesis on dispersal dynamics and vegetation patterns of tidal wetland flora and on how key structural processes relate to limitations and tolerance thresholds of the federally endangered Suisun thistle (Cirsium hydrophilum var. hydrophilum). He also works at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, where he is involved in a number of rare plant management projects throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Francisco Peninsula watershed.

Michael Vasey is Director of the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and Associate Director for Science Engagement for the Estuary and Ocean Science Center at San Francisco State University. He received his B.A. from Dartmouth College, M.A. in Ecology and Systematic Biology from San Francisco State University, and Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz. Mike has been focusing on the systematic relationships in Arctostaphylos for more than 25 years. As part of a team effort, Mike has made major contributions in developing the evolutionary context in which Arctostaphylos can be better understood and in unraveling species relationships within this challenging genus.

Allie Weill is an ecologist and science writer based in Sacramento. Her research and teaching have focused on fire science, plant ecology and evolution, and lichenology, with an emphasis on chaparral ecosystems. She holds a PhD in ecology from the University of California, Davis, and a BA in biology and BS in geophysical sciences from the University of Chicago. Her favorite lichen is Xanthoria parietina.

Scott White is a consulting biologist with Aspen Environmental Group. He holds both a B.A. and an M.A. degree from Humboldt State University. Scott is a former President of the Southern California Botanists and former co-editor of the journal Crossosoma. He is a co-author of The Vascular Plants of Western Riverside County and a Research Associate at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. He was an original member of the CNPS Vegetation Committee. He has been conducting floristic surveys throughout southern California since 1987 and his favorite long-term project will someday become a vouchered flora of the San Jacinto Mountains, based on herbarium specimens and his own collections.

Sophie Winitsky is currently working as the interim Public Programs Coordinator for the Jepson Herbarium. She received her M.S. in Botany from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden/Claremont Graduate University in 2018. She has studied the California flora while working for the California Native Plant Society, Inyo National Forest, and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. She specializes in the flora of the Great Basin Desert and completed a floristic inventory of Adobe Valley, Mono County, for her M.S. thesis.

Sara Witt has a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked as a field biologist, ecologist, and educator, with a focus on California plants and pollinators, for more than 10 years, and is the lab manager at the Urban Bee Lab. Sara also works as an ecologist for the non-profit organization Grassroots Ecology, which involves volunteers in habitat restoration and community science projects in open spaces and parks in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. She also volunteers leading hikes at preserves and open spaces in the Bay Area.