BSA Sectional Officers


Bryological And Lichenological Section

Chair and ABLS President (2025):

Daphne Stone
Oregon State University
Email: daphstone@gmail.com

Program Director - ABLS President-elect (2025):

Jessica Budke
University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Email: jbudke@utk.edu

Treasurer - ABLS Treasurer (2025):

Klara Scharnagl
University of California Berkeley
Email: klara.scharnagl@gmail.com

Secretary - ABLS Secretary (2027):

Manuela dal Forno
Fort Worth Botanic Garden
Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Email: mdalforno@fwbg.org

Developmental And Structural Section

Chair (2026):

Yaowu Yuan
University of Connecticut
Email: yaowu.yuan@uconn.edu

Program & Student Awards Director (2027):

Jacob Suissa
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Jsuissa@utk.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (2025):

Lena Hileman
University of Kansas
Email: lhileman@ku.edu

Ecology Section

Chair:

Currently Vacant

Vice-Chair (2026):

Francesco Martini
Trinity College Dublin
Email: martinif@tcd.ie

Secretary & Program Director (2025):

Jessamine Finch
Native Plant Trust
Email: jfinch@nativeplanttrust.org

Economic Botany Section

Chair (2026):

Emily Warchefsky
Missouri Botanical Garden

Secretary-Treasurer (2026):

Tabitha Faber
University of Wisconsin

Genetics Section

Chair (2025):

Michael Moody
The University of Texas at El Paso
Email: mlmoody@utep.edu

Co-Secretary-Treasurer (2025)

Anthony Taylor
Penn State University
Email: aat5490@psu.edu

Co-Secretary-Treasurer (2025)

Funmilola Mabel Ojo
Olusegun Agagu University of Science & Technology
Email: fm.ojo@oaustech.edu.ng

Co-Vice Chair (2025)

Jorge Vasquez-Kool
Shaw University
Email: jorge.vasquezkool@shawu.edu

Co-Vice Chair (2025)

Jeff Mower
University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Email: jpmower@unl.edu

Historical Section

Chair (2025):

Phil Gibson
University of Oklahoma
Email: jpgibson@ou.edu

Vice-Chair (2026):

Karen Wellner
Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona
Email: karen.wellner@cgc.edu

Past-Chair (2025)

Marshall D. Sundberg
Emporia State University
Email: msundber@emporia.edu

Secretary-Treasurer (2025)

Ian D. Medeiros
Smithsonian Institution

Paleobotanical Section

Secretary-Treasurer & Program Director (2027):

Patricia Ryberg
Park University
Email: patricia.ryberg@park.edu

Chair (2025):

Mihai Tomescu
Cal Poly Humboldt
Email: mihai@humboldt.edu

Editor, Bibliography of American Paleobotany (2026):

Caroline Strömberg
University of Washington
Email: caestrom@u.washington.edu

Phycological Section

In Recess


Physiological and Ecophysiological Section

Program Director (2025):

Christopher Krieg
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Email: ckrieg@wisc.edu

Chair (2026):

Jessica Savage
University of Minnesota
Email: jsavage@d.umn.edu

Treasurer (2025):

Anitra Thorhaug
Yale University
Email: thorhaug@msn.com

Phytochemistry Section

Chair (2026):

Josh Widhalm
Purdue University
Email: jwidhalm@purdue.edu

International Representative (2026):

Federico Roda
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Email: frodaf@unal.edu.co

Secretary (2026):

Ishveen Kaur
Virginia Tech
Email: ishveen@vt.edu

Student Representative (2026):

Abrianna Soule
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Email: abrsoule@umich.edu


Primarily Undergraduate Institution (PUI) Section

Chair (2024):

Dr. Nathan Jud
William Jewell College
Email: judn@william.jewell.edu

Vice-Chair (2023):

Dr. Carrie Wu
University of Richmond
Email: cwu@richmond.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (2025):

Dr. Greg Pec
University of Nebraska Kearney
Email: pecg@unk.edu

Postdoc Ambassador (2023):

Dr. Rajeev Ranjan
Perdue University
Email: ranjan9@purdue.edu

Pteridological Section

Chair (2025):

Alejandra Vasco
Botanical Research Institute of Texas
Email: avasco@brit.org

Secretary-Treasurer (2026):

Tom Ranker
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Email: tom.ranker@gmail.com

Systematics Section

Secretary-Treasurer-Program Director (2025):

Linda Watson
Oklahoma State University
Email: linda.watson10@okstate.edu

Chair (2026):

Jennifer Mandel
University of Memphis
Email: jmandel@memphis.edu

Teaching Section

Chair (2026):

Robert Noyd
U.S. Airforce Academy
Email: bob.noyd@usafa.edu

Vice Chair & Chair-Elect (2026):

J. Phil Gibson
University of Oklahoma
Email: jpgibson@ou.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (2026):

Janelle Burke
Howard University
Email: Janelle.Burke@howard.edu

Immediate Past Chair (2026):


Tropical Biology Section

Chair (2024):

Vinita Gowda
IISER Bhopal
Email: gowdav@iiserb.ac.in

Secretary-Treasurer: 

Vacant

Northeastern Section

Chair (2025):

Amy Faivre
Cedar Crest College 
Email: aefaivre@cedarcrest.edu

Vice Chair & Program Director (2025):

Bonnie Isaac
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Email: isaacb@carnegiemnh.org

Southeastern Section

Chairman (2025):

Jeremy D. Rentsch
Francis Marion University
Email: Jrentsch@fmarion.edu

Secretary/Treasurer (2025):

Carolina Siniscalchi
Mississippi State University
E-mail: csiniscalchi@biology.msstate.edu

Activities Chair: (2024)

Ben Gahagen
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College
Email: bgahagen@abac.edu