Here at the Sarawak Biodiversity Centre I am a visiting Fulbright scholar affiliated with the Traditional Knowledge Programme. As a professional botanist, my project in Malaysia for the next five months is to meet and work with botanists, assist with documenting ethnobotanical collections, and to share and exchange ideas about herbarium management and technique. I hope and expect to learn much from my colleagues here, and I also hope to contribute what I can.
In the United States I am the curator of the Clemson University Herbarium, a collection of over 100,000 plant specimens drawn mainly from the southeastern US. My training though, was in the deserts of the American Southwest. There I worked for years as a botanist for both the United States Forest Service and as the assistant curator of the well-known Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, Arizona.
My experience here has been very positive and enjoyable, and my family and I have been overwhelmed by the kindness and helpfulness we have encountered at every turn. I am greatly looking forward to a productive time exploring the rich and diverse flora and cultures of Malaysia in my next few months here.
