A slightly belated congratulations to Chinedum who has achieved a remarkable double honor—winning the 2024 J. S. Karling Graduate Student Research Award (the top graduate research award from the Botanical Society of America) and an ASPT Graduate Student Research Award!
We are thrilled to celebrate this major accomplishment and can’t wait to see where his work takes him next. Way to go, Chinedum!
Congratulations to Chinedum, who crushed his comprehensive exams (both the written and oral portions) and now is officially PhD Candidate Anajemba! He handled all questions with skill and aplomb (drawing a map of North American might have been the biggest challenge–which side does florida go again?). Well done, we’re all very proud of you!
WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Congratulations to newly minted Dr. Maryam! There were some dark moments (as there always are) and then … you did it! It’s done! CONGRATULATIONS!!! We all (Rothfels lab sensu lato) knew you would, and I’m very proud of you!
Rothfels Lab stalwart and apomixis/xeric fern enthusiast, David Adelhelm, has left us for sunnier and more lucrative pastures—we miss you David! Unfortunately, photos of our good-bye bash were lost in an inexplicable accident, so we will have to settle with these few images as homage to David’s many contributions to the lab.
Ryan Helcoski and his partner EV joined the Intermountain Botanical Foray this year and produced a cool piece on our adventures for Utah Public Radio! I hate hearing my recorded voice and yet I actually enjoyed listening to this–a real testament to Ryan’s interview and production skill (and to how intrinsically fun the Foray is?).
https://www.upr.org/science/2024-07-23/utah-botanists-and-plant-hobbyists-gather-in-ephraim-to-build-community
David (and to a lesser extent, me [carl]) has been on a mission. A mission to see the lone Myriopteris species of Cache County, the elusive M. gracilis. Nevermind that somehow it’s been iNat-observed in the county just shy of 40 times, making it one of the most-observed species that he (and I) have yet to see AND it’s a cheilanthoid at that…
So we took PIP (“plant identification practice”, a weekly Intermountain Herbarium open house) to the field this week to see if we could put an end to this foolishness.
The Rothworth and Rushfels labs, Pumpkin Carving Champions Halloween 2022, sought to defend our crown (aka creepy little stuffed devil gnome thing), but were narrowly bested by the shark tadpoles of the WoLab. Well met, WoLab! Nevertheless, multiple people, who may or may not be Rothworth/Rushfels lab members, confided that our “Terrifying Notifications” jack-o-lanterns were a fan favorite.
