Life and Literature Speaker: Sandra Knapp

Sandra Knapp obtained her PhD in 1986 from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. She is a specialist on the taxonomy of the nightshade family, Solanaceae, and has spent much time in the field in Central and South America collecting plants. She is the author of more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific papers and actively involved in promoting the role of taxonomy worldwide. She is also the author of several popular books on the history of science and botanical exploration, including the award-winning Potted Histories (2003). In 2009 she was honored by the Peter Raven Outreach Award by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists and the UK National Biodiversity Network’s John Burnett Medal. She served as the President of the Nomenclature Section of the 18th International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Australia in July 2011, where e-publication of new names of plants was accepted into the botanical Code. Her current projects include Flora Mesoamericana (a synoptic flora of southern Mexico and Central America), a world-wide taxonomic monograph of the megadiverse genus Solanum (Solanaceae), collaborative research in phylogenetics and genomic evolution of Solanaceae, and field guides for aiding conservation on the ground in the Neotropics, most recently in Paraguay.