Herbarium personnel
Permanent Staff:
Shelley McMahon - Herbarium Director
My research in plant systematics has focused on papilionoid legumes, particularly in the Amorpheae, a group of c. 240 New World arid/semi-arid species, which includes Dalea, Marina, Psorothamnus, and Amorpha. My interests include the evolution of variation in floral morphology among lineages, their developmental morphology, and who is related to whom. I am also interested in general systematics of legumes and angiosperms, phylogenetic methodology, and large-scale phylogenetics and tree-of-life efforts.
You can e-mail me at mcmahonm@email.arizona.edu.
McMahon Lab Website
Philip D. Jenkins - Curatorial Specialist
At this point in my life I fear a comprehensive record of my educational and professional past may be too lengthy to hold anyone’s attention, so I am presenting a somewhat eclectic summary of a few of the major points. Follow these links for my biography and C.V.
Email: pjenkins@u.arizona.edu
Home phone: 520-623-6037 (contact Phil to arrange access to herbarium during December holidays)
Gene Hall - Collections Manager
My primary interests are in the management of natural history collections, which allow us to preserve and document the history of life on Earth, and research utilizing systematics, morphology and biogeography to better understand our planet’s biodiversity. Examples include studies on the evolutionary relationships of the beetle groups Ptiliidae, Hydroscaphidae, Sphaeriusidae and Limnichidae, and analysis of fossil insects from pack rat middens of the Sonoran Desert. My research also focuses on botanical and mycological systematics, including mosses of the southwest and fungus-beetle interactions, respectively.
View my C.V.
Email: wehall@email.arizona.edu
Brad Boyle - Database Manager and Webmaster
I am interested in the development of informatics tools for the management and exchange of biodiversity data, in particular herbarium collections and vegetation inventories. As demonstrated by some recent publications, such collaborative “mega datasets” are opening up exciting new avenues of research into plant diversity, distribution and function.
Email: bboyle@email.arizona.edu
Student Employees:
Tamara Fahrenreich - Data Entry Specialist & Collections Assistant
Tammy is a third year student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has been with the herbarium since October 2007.
Volunteers:
The University of Arizona Herbarium is fortunate to have the help of of a large team of skilled and dedicated volunteers. Our volunteers assist with many activities essential to the day-to-day operation of the herbarium, including data entry, specimen mounting, filing, to name just a few. We are very grateful to them all!
* David Bertelsen - data entry; identification; filing (see other entry for Dave under “Associated Researchers”)
* Mike Bauer - filing, preparation of species and genus folders (Leroy lettering)
* Robin Coon - specimen mounting
* Carol Groetken - specimen mounting
* Joan Tedford - filing
* Nancy Zierenberg - specimen mounting
Student Employees Emeritus:
Luis Fernando Lozano - Former Data Entry Specialist
Luis double majored in both Molecular and Cellular Biology and in History. He was with the herbarium from October 2007 - May 2009.
Becky Stephenson - Former Collections Assistant
Becky received her BSc from Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in December 2008. She worked with the herbarium from March 2007 to December 2008.
Olga Campos - Former Collections Assistant
Olga Campos was Data Entry Specialist and Collections Assistant at the UA Herbarium from 2006-2008. She graduated from the University of Arizona in May 2008 with a double major in Studio Arts and Art Education.
Sean Park - Former Collections Manager, Website Developer
Sean Park received his B.Sc. from the University of Arizona in 2006, with a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology and a minor in Chemistry. Sean managed loans and exchanges and maintained the herbarium website from April 2005-December 2006.
Mike Sweeney - Former Collections Assistant
Mike worked with the herbarium from September 2007 to August 2008. He completed his B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in May 2008.
Ben Wilder - Former Assistant Collections Manager
Ben Wilder received his B.Sc. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in November 2006, and also received the EEB Outstanding Senior Award. In 2007 he will continues his work on the eradication of Buffelgrass, and will be completing, in collaboration with Richard Felger, a catalogue of the botanical diversity of Isla Tiburon, Sonora, Mexico.
Renee Yu - Former Assistant Collections Manager
Renee Yu received her B.Sc. in May of 2007, with a major in Molecular and Cellular Biology. Renee started working at the the herbarium in September 2004, entering specimens under the Arizona Database Grant. She later worked as Assistant Collections Manager, until concluding her studies at the Univerisity of Arizona in 2007. Renee also worked as a technician in Shelley McMahon’s laboratory. Renee is currently a Ph.D. student in the Epidemiology program at Emory University in Atlanta.