Maria Fadiman, PhD | website

Dr. Maria Fadiman has recently been named one of National Geographic's Emerging Explorers. She conducts ethnobotanical geography research in the developing world. In the rain forests of Latin America she has worked as a naturalist guide in Costa Rica, helped to prepare medicine for a healer in Belize, researched the useful plants of the indigenous Lacandon in Chiapas, Mexico, and studied Mayan hat weaving materials in the Yucatan. Currently she is working in Ecuador with distinct ethnic groups and their use of fiber plants from the forest. She is beginning a project looking at the balance between human settlement and the natural ecosystems of the Galápagos, with particular attention to introduced species and organic coffee production. Expanding her research to include the savannas of Africa (Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania), she is focusing on the sustainability of bush plant use for wood carving, food and medicine. She did her undergraduate work at Vassar College, M.A. at Tulane University, and Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin. She is currently a professor at Florida Atlantic University in the department of Geosciences.

I hope to contribute to the Society for Economic Botany by:

1) Public Understanding of Ethnobotany: I would work towards expanding ethnobotanical interest and understanding to include individuals and organizations in areas such as conservation, cultural survival and ecology, in addition to academic ethnobotanical circles.
2) Research Linkages: I want to strengthen the linking of ethnobotanical research with global environmental issues, such as global climate change and deforestation.
3) Ethnobotanical University Education: I would like to increase education about the concept of ethnobotany as a field, and to work towards integrating more ethnobotany courses into college curriculums.