Current Events
February 6, 2026
Dr. Karolina Heyduk
“The Wonderful Diversity of Plant Photosynthesis”
Dr. Karolina Heyduk is an Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She is also the director of the George Safford Torrey Herbarium at UConn.
The meeting begins at 5:30pm and may be attended in person at UConn or virtually over Zoom. Non-members, please register. The program will feature an optional tour of the herbarium and greenhouse from 3:30-5pm. Space for the tour is limited; registration is required by members and non-members.
Please visit our Upcoming Meetings page for Dr. Heyduk’s abstract, program details and registration information.
Congratulations to the Fernald Award Recipients
for Rhodora Vol. 125
Dr. Robert Bertin
Brett Trowbridge
Brian Keevan
The Merritt Lyndon Fernald Award Committee is pleased to recognize Dr. Robert Bertin, Brett Trowbridge, and Brian Keevan for their paper “Patterns in the flora of the Wachusett Mountain area, Princeton and Westminster, Massachusetts, U.S.A.”
Congratulations to the 2025 Junior Faculty Award Winner
Dr. Chloe Pak Drummond
Dr. Chloe Pak Drummond, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts, for project “Population history, genetic diversity, and future persistence of Large-leaved Sandwort, Moehringia macrophylla (Hook.) Fenzl (Caryophyllaceae), a rare New England plant.”
Congratulations to our 2025 Graduate Student Research Award Winners
Jason Leung
Caroline Witherspoon
Jason Leung of Columbia University for project “Sequencing 19th century herbarium specimens to understand the loss of genetic diversity in a regionally extinct beach plant, Amaranthus pumilus Raf., or seabeach amaranth”
Caroline Witherspoon of SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry for project “Usnea subfloridana as a model for understanding the drivers of the distribution and ecology of imperiled Usnea lichens in the northeastern United States”
Congratulations to the 2025 Les Mehrhoff Botanical Research Award Winners
Ujjal Banik
Eric Hagen
Michael Lew-Smith
Alex Karasoulos
Emmi Kurosawa
Catherine Wessel
& Will Durkin
Ujjal Banik for project “Morphologgy and eco-physiological study of green macroalgae Ulva“
Eric Hagen and Michael Lew-Smith for project “Finding Floerkea: Using herbarium specimens and biogeographic modeling to search for new populations of the recently rediscovered Floerkea proserpinacoides in Vermont”
Alex Karasoulos for project “Targeted surveys for rare vascular plants in the brackish marshes of Massachusetts”
Emmi Kurosawa for project “A survey of 15 introduced populations of critically endangered Aldrovanda vesiculosa in New England, and characterization of ecological requirements for successful cultivation”
Catherine Wessel and Will Durkin for project “Targeted surveys for Agalinis neoscotica: Historic and rare populations in coastal Maine”