João Araujo, Alison Pollack & James Lendemer, Ph.D.

Teaches at New York Botanical Garden

João Araujo is the Assistant Curator of Mycology, Institute of Systematic Botany at the New York Botanical Garden. Joao's research interest is related to insect-associated fungi, the taxonomy, systematics and evolutionary ecology.

He's currently working on the diversity and evolution of Japanese, Amazonian and African entomopathogenic fungi. His typical approach is to combine fundamental taxonomic science with natural history, field work, evolutionary biology, microscopy and photography.

Alison Pollack is a photographer specializing in the diminutive dwellers of the forest - Myxomycetes (slime molds) and tiny fungi. Her passion is finding and photographing these miniature worlds to bring awareness to the fascinating and beautiful organisms that exist right at our feet but are largely hidden to the naked eye.

Alison shares her photographs online (Instagram: @marin_mushrooms and Facebook: @AlisonKPollack), where she has amassed a large and enthusiastic following. Her otherworldly images are captioned with information about her subjects, as well as technical details of her photography process. Alison's photographs have been featured in dozens of print and online publications, including the Sunday New York Times Magazine.

James C. Lendemer earned a Ph.D. in Biology from the City University of New York, where he studied lichen taxonomy. He previously taught courses and workshops at Southern Oregon University and the Universityof Maine. From 2006 to 2011, he was a chairman on the Bryophyte and Lichen Technical Committee for the Pennsylvania Biological Survey. Lendemer has authored nearly 200 papers and publications and currentlyworks in the Garden's Institute of Systematic Botany.