Curator, Mycology, Department of Botany, The Field Museum; Lecturer, Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago; Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago.

B.A., Botany, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 1976.
M.S., Botany, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, 1979.
Ph.D., Botany, The University of Tennessee

Visiting Scientist, Institute of Physiological Botany, Uppsala University, Sweden, 1982-1983.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dept. of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, WA. 1984-1985
Alexopoulos Prize, The Mycological Society of America, 1992.
Associate Editor, Mycologia, 1995-1998
Editorial Board, Mycotaxon, 1998-present
International Coordinator of Fungal Programs, National Institute of Biodiversity (INBio), Costa Rica, 1999--present
IUCN Species Survival Commission, Fungi Specialist Group, member, 1999-present

Systematics, biogeography, and ecology of macrofungi; neotropical mycology; fungal biodiversity; mycorrhizas

My research program centers on the systematics, ecology and evolution of higher fungi and the mutualistic symbiosis that some of them form termed mycorrhizae. Four long-term projects are currently receiving most of my attention: i) A survey of mushrooms and related fungi of the Costa Rican tropical oak forests. Goals of this study are to: a) develop the first comprehensive survey of higher fungi from the neotropics and b) build scientific infrastructure in Costa Rica through training of graduate students and improving facilities. ii) A survey of mushrooms and related fungi occurring in northern Illinois and Indiana to determine species composition, distribution and host specificity and to assess the effect of human activity (i.e., air pollution and reintroduction of fire as a management tool) on fungi in the region. iii) Comparison of biogeographic relationships between macrofungi of eastern North America and eastern Asia. Goals of this study are to document macrofungal diversity in China and to determine the taxonomic similarity of the two regions based on detailed morphological analyses and analysis of DNA sequence data of selected taxa. iv) A monographic study of the genera Hydnangium, Laccaria, and Podohydnangium. This work is designed to test various theories of speciation, coevolution (with their obligate tree symbionts) and biogeography of fungi that form ectomycorrhizae. These projects entail an active field work component as well as laboratory studies that include micromorphological analyses (computer-aided light microscopy, SEM and TEM), examination of in vitro culture morphology, pairing studies and DNA sequencing. These interrelated projects are providing information on fungal ecology and biology that are crucial to temperate and tropical forest management and conservation.