Taft is pleased to welcome renowned botanist Dr. Scott A. Mori to campus Wednesday, February 29, for the inaugural event of our New York Botanical Garden Seminar Series. The lecture begins at 6:30 p.m. in Laube Auditorium; refreshments will be served. Students, faculty and staff are welcome to attend this program, which is also open to the public.
Dr. Mori’s lecture, entitled “The Role of the Rainforest in Maintaining Life on Earth,” will be rooted in his expansive study of the relationships that exist among plants and animals in tropical forests. It will also draw from his newest book, Tropical Plant Collecting: From the Field to the Internet, published in 2011.
An expert in the systemics and ecology of the New Word tropics, Dr. Mori is currently the Nathaniel Lord Britton Curator of Botany at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG). His affiliation with NYBG dates back to 1975, when he joined their staff as a research associate. Since then, he has held a variety of posts at NYBG, including both senior curator and director of the Institute of Systemic Botany. Dr. Mori is also former executive director of the Organization for Flora Neotropica, a past president of the Torrey Botanical Society and a member of the adjunct faculties at the City University of New York, the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia University, and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. He holds the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration and the Asa Gray Award by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists for lifetime achievement based on his studies of the classification, ecology and conservation of New World tropical plants.
The New York Botanical Garden Seminar Series at Taft features six unique lectures by NYBG scientists, and is made possible in part by a grant from the Yerkes Family Botanical Art and Science Speakers Fund.
For more information on the event, please call 860-945-5942.