Botany faculy member Currano wins A&S extraordinary merit in Research award

Botany faculty member Dr. Ellen Currano has won the College of A & S extraordinary merit in research award for spring 2016. Dr. Currano studies how ancient forests responded to environmental disturbances. Better understanding of these past changes will help in predicting how present ecosystems could respond to environmental disturbances.

To learn more about her research and other accomplishments, please visit her website at:
http://www.uwyo.edu/geolgeophys/faculty/ellen-currano.html

Dr. Currano has previously won the Promoting intellectual engagement (PIE) award for inspiring students in first-year courses, and she is also the co-founder of the Bearded Lady Project: Challenging the face of science.
More information about this project can be found at: http://thebeardedladyproject.com/

Visit UW Williams Conservatory to see plants from different parts of the world

--- Contributed by Meredith Pratt

Tired of the Wyoming wind and cold? Come escape to the tropics in the Williams Conservatory! Plants native to South Africa, Madagascar, Brazil, India, etc. fill the rooms of the conservatory to provide you with an experience foreign to Laramie.

Throughout the year, you will see the beautiful plants like the Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae) flowering in the Williams Conservatory. Native to South Africa, this exotic plant grows up to 6 feet fall with large green leaves resembling that of banana plants.

The flower, famous for favoring the crest of a bird, is comprised of three orange and three blue tepals, structures that contain both the sepal and petals. A pollinator in search of nectar, usually a bird, lands on one of the tepals forcing the anthers to emerge from the petals and disperse pollen onto the pollinator’s feet. This pollen is transported to another flower aiding in the reproduction of this beautiful plant. With the design of the flower trapping the pollen, the bird of paradise is given an OPALS (Ogren Plant Allergy Scale) rating of 1, “very low potential to cause allergies.”

Visit Williams Conservatory's Instagram page for other amazing pictures:
https://www.instagram.com/uw_williams_conservatory/

Visit Williams Conservatory's webpage for additional details:

http://www.uwyo.edu/conservatory/