From Plant Press, Vol. 4, No. 1 from January 2001.
Jing-Ping Liao, a visiting scientist from the South China Institute of Botany (SCIB) and sponsored by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Guangzhou, China, is working with W. John Kress on the palynology of the Zingiberales. Using a recent new phylogeny of the family based on molecular data, Liao, Kress, and research assistant Ida Lopez are investigating the evolution of pollen characters in all the genera of the Zingiberaceae. At SCIB, Liao, an associate research professor, is the director of the Cytology and Molecular Biology Laboratory, deputy director of the Research Center for Plant Systematics and Phylogeny, and a Ph.D. candidate at the institute. He leads a research group in the study of the anatomy, embryology, palynology and phylogeny of Zingiberales and heads the projects of “reproductive Organ Anatomy and Palynology of Zingiberales and Their Phylogenetic Significance” and “Phylogeny of Banana Families.” His six-month visit will end April 2001.
Denise Mix started in December 2000 as research assistant to Warren Wagner. She is a graduate of George Washington University with an M.A. in museum studies, focusing on collections management. As part of the program, she interned at the NMNH with Paleobiology collections manager, Jann Thompson. Denise is originally from upstate New York and earned an undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology from SUNY Albany. She spent several years working as a laboratory technician in biomedical research at various institutions including the New York State (NYS) Department of Health. While working as a lab technician, Mix also served as a volunteer in the herbarium at the NYS Museum, where her interest in botany and museum work developed.
Gisela Sancho, a visiting scientist from La Plata, Argentina, is working with Vicki Funk on a revision of Tribe Vernonieae, Subtribe Elephantopodinae (Asteraceae). Currently, she has a one-year external fellowship from CONICET, the government institution of science in Argentina. Sancho received a Ph.D. (1997) from the University of La Plata, with a dissertation on the “Cladistics, Systematics and Biogeography of Gochnatia sect. Moquiniastrum (Tribe Mutisieae, Compositae)”, and later did similar studies of Onoseris in the same tribe. She is employed in the Department of Vascular Plants of the Museo de La Plata Herbarium (LP).
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