James Bissell. Curator of Botany Dr. Bissell has conducted inventories within Lake Erie wetlands in northern Ohio since the middle 1970s and all coastal wetlands along Lake Erie in Erie County, PA since 1985. The Museum Botany Department staff members and volunteers, headed by Curator Bissell since 1972, have collected thousands of plant specimens from Lake Erie coastal wetlands in northern Ohio and northwestern Pennsylvania. Several new native wetland plants to both Ohio and Pennsylvania have been collected within Lake Erie wetlands in both states. Many wetland plants at Presque Isle, not documented for more than a century, were found under the museum’s 30-year inventory.
James Bissell, Director of Natural Areas and Curator of Botany, Cleveland Museum of Natural History • 1 Wade Oval Drive, Cleveland, OH 44106 • jbissell@cmnh.org

Jason T. Cantley is currently the Burpee Postdoctoral Fellow of Plant Genetics with Chris Martine at Bucknell University. At Bucknell, Jason studies aspects of evolution and biodiversity of Pacific and Australian distributed taxa. Prior to his work at Bucknell, Jason lived in the Hawaiian Islands where he was a Botanist and Wildlife Scientist for SWCA Environmental Consultants in Honolulu and often worked closely with endangered plants and animals. In 2014 Jason received his Ph.D. at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa on research regarding the evolution and biogeography of insular Coprosma (Rubiaceae) taxa occurring across the Pacific.
Jason T. Cantley, Burpee Post Doctoral Fellow of Plant Genetics, Bucknell University
1 Dent Drive, Rooke 201, Lewisburg, PA 17837 • jtc015@bucknell.edu

Sarah Chamberlain. Ms. Chamberlain is a Botanist at Riparia, a research center in the Department of Geography, Penn State University, and was recently appointed Curator of the PAC Herbarium at Penn State. Her botanical research primarily focuses on the development and validation of plant-based bioassessment tools for wetlands in the Mid-Atlantic region. She also teaches workshops on grass, sedge and rush identification and frequently lectures on plant-related topics. She has developed a number of materials to aid in plant identification including a field manual for grasses in the Mid-Atlantic currently in press at Penn State Press. Ms. Chamberlain maintains Riparia’s reference collection of more than 200 wetland sites in Pennsylvania, as well as their reference and teaching herbaria.
Sarah Chamberlain, Botanist, Riparia, Penn State University
302 Walker Building, University Park, PA 16802 • sjm20@psu.edu

Dr. Dwayne Estes. Dr. Estes is professor of biology at Austin Peay State University and has a joint appointment with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. He received his Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Tennessee in 2008. Dwayne’s research includes the biogeography of Southeastern U.S., the discovery and description of new plant species, and the flora and biogeography of grasslands and rock outcrop communities. He is active in training graduate students in field botany and also serves as curator of the APSU Herbarium and the VDB Herbarium at BRIT.
Dwayne Estes, Professor of Biology (APSU) and Botanical Explorer (BRIT), Austin Peay State University and the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, APSU, Department of Biology
P.O. Box 4718, Clarksville, TN 37044 • estesL@apsu.edu

Steven Grund. Steven Grund studied botany at the University of Michigan, and since 1995 has been Botanist for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy and the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program. His work focuses on conservation of the Pennsylvania flora with emphasis on rare species; he has authored several papers on plant conservation and taxonomy. Grund is a Research Associate with the Carnegie Museum and an active member of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey, Vascular Plant Technical Committee. He chaired the Pennsylvania Rare Plant Forum from 1997 to 2011. A founding member of the Pennsylvania Botany Symposium Steering Committee, Grund serves as Program Chair.
Steve Grund, Botanist, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy/Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
800 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15222• sgrund@paconserve.org

Barre Hellquist. Dr. Hellquist received his Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire studying the effects of water chemistry on the distribution of Potamogeton in New England. He has taught courses and mini-courses on aquatic plants at the Universities of Michigan and Oklahoma Biological Stations and Eagle Hill Research Station. He had studied aquatics throughout the U.S., Canada, Russia and Australia. In the U.S. he has researched the rare Potamogeton clystocarpus from West Texas to the multi-year survey of Yellowstone and Grand Teton Nation Parks. In recent years he has been particularly interested in the Nymphaeaceae of North America and particularly Australia. He has co-authored the description of nine new species and subspecies of Australian waterlilies.
Barre Hellquist, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
391 West Road, Adams, MA 01220 • c.barre.hellquist@mcla.edu

Bonnie Isaac. Bonnie Isaac is the Collection Manager of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh. She has been employed by the museum since 1989. Bonnie received her Bachelors and Masters degrees in Biological Sciences with emphasis in Plant Sciences from Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio and an International Diploma in Herbarium Techniques, from Kew Royal Botanical Garden in Kew, England. Bonnie serves on the Pennsylvania Botany Symposium Committee, the Pennsylvania Vascular Plant Technical Committee of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey, and as President of the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Her mentor was Carl Chuey, who specialized in ferns.
Bonnie Isaac, Collection Manager, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
4400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 • isaacb@carnegieMNH.org

Wesley Knapp. Wesley M. Knapp, Mountain Biologist, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, was also Botanist/Ecologist with the Maryland Natural Heritage Program for 15 years. Wes has written numerous taxonomic treatments including the Juncaceae treatment of the forthcoming New Gleason & Cronquist Manual authored by Naczi. Wes has described 3 new plant species, including a Juncus endemic to Texas. In 2015 he was named a Research Associate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. Wes has had a growing interest in extinct vascular land plants for years and is leading a group of experts from across North America in an effort to document and understand this urgent topic.
Wesley M. Knapp, Mountains Field Ecologist/Botanist, North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, Division of Land and Water Stewardship, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
176 Riceville Road, Asheville, NC 28805 • Wesley.Knapp@ncdcr.gov

Chris Martine. Chris Martine is the David Burpee Professor in Plant Genetics and Research, and Director of the Manning Herbarium at Bucknell University, a post he assumed after six years on the faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh following his Ph.D. work at the University of Connecticut. Chris is an evolutionary biologist, ecologist and botanist with a passion for natural history — something he strives to promote in his YouTube series, “Plants are Cool, Too!” and through his blog entries for Huffington Post. He has published two field guides, Trees of New Jersey and Shrubs and Vines of New Jersey, through the NJDEP.
Chris Martine, David Burpee Professor, Bucknell University, Department of Biology
1 Dent Drive, Lewisburg, PA 17837 • Ctm015@bucknell.edu

Richard McCourt. Dr. McCourt is the Associate Curator of Botany at the Academy of Natural Sciences, home to the more than 200 plant specimens returned by Lewis and Clark from the journal of exploration in 1804-1806. He has published a number of papers on the Lewis and Clark Herbarium at the Academy, and co-authored with Earle E. Spamer a Special Publication CD-ROM and short book on the Lewis and Clark Herbarium. He has given numerous lectures to scientific audiences and the general public.
Richard McCourt, Curator and Professor, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University
1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103 • Rmm45@drexel.edu

Peggy Olwell. Peggy Olwell is a leading advocate for native plant conservation and restoration. She is Plant Conservation Program Lead for Bureau of Land Management and has successfully championed the conservation of native plant species for over thirty years. She was instrumental in developing the Plant Conservation Alliance in 1994, a partnership of 12 federal agencies and over 320 state and private organizations. She is currently Chair of the PCA Federal Committee. Peggy led the development of the National Seed Strategy. Peggy co-edited Restoring Diversity: Strategies for Reintroduction of Endangered Plants. Previously she worked for National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Center for Plant Conservation.
Peggy Olwell, Plant Conservation Program Lead, Bureau of Land Management
1849 C. St. NW, Room 2134 LM WO-220 • Washington, DC 20240 • polwell@blm.gov

Kelly Sitch, Forest Ecologist, PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry.