The Plant Press

New faces

Madison Conn is an undergraduate Environmental Sciences major at the University of Pittsburgh. This summer, she joined the Department of Botany as an NHRE intern under the mentorship of Ian Medeiros and Eric Schuettpelz. Working on a project entitled “Population genetics of a species complex in southern African Xanthoparmelia (lichenized Ascomycota),” Conn is utilizing DNA, chemistry, and morphology to determine whether the current classification of the Xanthoparmelia schenckiana complex aligns with genetic data. In the Ashman and Turcotte Labs at the University of Pittsburgh, Conn has worked with Lemna (duckweed) exploring their phytoremediation capabilities and whether duckweed polyploids exhibit increased contaminant tolerance when competing with their diploid counterparts.

Carter Keyworth, an undergraduate Plant Sciences major at the University of California Riverside (UCR), joined the Department of Botany as an NHRE intern working with mentors Jun Wen, Alberto J. Coello, and Angélica Gallego-Narbón. Currently, they are analyzing the phylogenetics, morphology, and geographical distributions of Cissus (Vitaceae) species in Mexico, a region which lacks extensive research in Cissus. At UCR, Keyworth is a research assistant in Robert Jinkerosn’s lab working with genetically modifying crop plants for indoor and concentrated growing conditions. Additionally, they volunteer for Loralee Larios’ lab investigating mycorrhizal symbionts with Southern California native flora in post-fire recovery. 

Alice Tangerini has two volunteers working on the Botanical Art Collection, James Morrison and Michelle Gates. Morrison has been working as a volunteer artist in the NMNH Fossil Lab since 2012 for Abbey Telfer, Museum Program Specialist, and in Botany since 2023. His first assignments were scanning the Hughes watercolors, the Krieger cactus seeds, and the Smith and Downs Xyridaceae illustrations, totaling over 200 scans. Currently he is working through all unscanned Poaceae illustrations, many from the Hitchcock-Chase and McClure era. In his spare time Morrison paints in a studio near his apartment, incorporating the images from his Fossil lab drawings and other biological specimens.

Michelle Gates began working as a Botany volunteer in 2024 and has been scanning Norris’s collection of algae illustrations including drawings from E. Yale Dawson publications, early anatomical drawings for Smith and Ayensu, and Walpole’s historical field sketches from late 1800s. When not volunteering, Gates keeps busy with three school age children and an active career in embroidery and painting.