September 18, 2006
California Academy of Sciences honors botanist
Jean Langenheim
By Tim Stephens
Jean Langenheim, professor emerita and research professor of
ecology and evolutionary biology, has been chosen to receive
the 2006 Fellows Medal of the California Academy of Sciences
(CAS). This is the highest honor bestowed by the academy, founded
in 1853 as the first scientific institution in the western United
States.
Jean Langenheim
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The award recognizes Langenheim's "decades of excellence
in contribution to the advancement of science and to the life
of this institution," said CAS president Ward Watt in a
letter informing Langenheim of the award.
Langenheim has been a CAS fellow since 1973, when she was elected
to the academy. She will receive the medal at the CAS Fellows'
Annual Dinner and Meeting on October 10. It is the second major
honor this year for Langenheim, who received a Centennial Award
from the Botanical Society of America in August (see Currents
story).
Langenheim is an eminent plant ecologist and leading authority
on plant resins. She has studied plant resins and amber (fossilized
resin) for more than 40 years, and her 2003 book Plant Resins
(Timber Press) is the only authoritative reference book on the
subject.
A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science, Langenheim has served as the president of the Association
for Tropical Biology, the Ecological Society of America, the
International Society of Chemical Ecology, and the Society for
Economic Botany.
Langenheim joined the UCSC faculty in 1966. She earned her
B.S. in biology at the University of Tulsa and her M.S. and
Ph.D. in botany at the University of Minnesota.