I received a B.S. in biology from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in 1992, and earned an M.S. in biology at Appalachian State in 1996, completing a thesis on “An Investigation of the Genetic Structure of Baldcypress and Pondcypress using Allozyme Analysis”.

In 2002 I earned a Ph.D. in botany at the University of Tennessee, completing my dissertation “Systematic and Monographic Studies in Artomyces Jülich and Clavicorona Doty.”  From 2002 to 2007 I remained at Tennessee as a post-doctoral research associate working on a variety of projects such as the systematics of Hibiscus sect. furcaria, DNA sequence variability in the touch response genes (TCH) of Arabidopsis, and an inventory of the mushroom species of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I arrived at Bridgewater in the fall of 2007 and teach botany, plant taxonomy, summer flora, winter ecology, and economic botany, as well as manage the herbarium (BDWR) and greenhouse.  My current research interests include both plant and fungal taxonomy and systematics, covering everything from species inventories of natural areas to molecular analysis.  Outside of school, my interests include hiking, canoeing, and rugby!