Awards and Honors

Botany journal dedicates 2004 volume to biologist Jean Langenheim

The California Botanical Society has honored Jean Langenheim, professor emerita of ecology and evolutionary biology, by dedicating to her the latest volume of its journal, Madroño. This volume includes the four issues of the journal published in 2004, the most recent of which includes an essay on Langenheim's contributions to the field by botanist Thomas Hofstra.

Jean Langenheim

"[Langenheim's] enthusiasm for study of plants, including fossils, has enabled her to pursue a diversity of courses of research, to exert leadership in emerging fields, such as tropical and chemical ecology, and to influence the careers of many students," Hofstra wrote.

He also noted that Langenheim, who came to UCSC in 1966, was the campus's first female faculty member in the natural sciences and the first woman to be promoted to full professor on this campus. Although formally retired since 1993, she has remained active as a research professor and continues to supervise graduate students.

Langenheim has been studying plant resins and amber (fossilized resin) for more than 40 years. In 2003, she published a major book on the subject, Plant Resins: Chemistry, Evolution, Ecology, and Ethnobotany (see Currents story). The book received the 2004 Klinger Book Award from the Society for Economic Botany.

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