Ana María Bedoya, PhD. (PI)
Assistant Curator, New York Botanical Garden
[email protected]
I grew up in Colombia and for 25 years woke up next to the eastern Andean cordillera. I have spent the rest of my days studying the flora of Tropical America, including the Andean flora and the aquatic flora. I do have a favorite group of plants. Keep scrolling through to find out which.
Hint 1: I work towards documenting diversity in extreme but undercollected habitats.
Hint 2: In the field, you can find me rafting, tubing, hiking, or falling while collecting in "islands within rivers"
Assistant Curator, New York Botanical Garden
[email protected]
I grew up in Colombia and for 25 years woke up next to the eastern Andean cordillera. I have spent the rest of my days studying the flora of Tropical America, including the Andean flora and the aquatic flora. I do have a favorite group of plants. Keep scrolling through to find out which.
Hint 1: I work towards documenting diversity in extreme but undercollected habitats.
Hint 2: In the field, you can find me rafting, tubing, hiking, or falling while collecting in "islands within rivers"
Kelly T. Bocanegra-González, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in our group (2026–present). Her work focuses on tracing the evolutionary and biogeographic of Neotropical plants, particularly in northern South America and the Chocó region. Kelly has worked broadly with tropical tree systems, including the genus Inga. She is now interested in exploring if comparable patterns of diversification and distribution occur in riverweeds. Kelly loves nature photography and is an avid scuba diver!
|
Alejandra Carvajal Zapata (2025-present) is a PhD student in our group. She is passionate about plants and systematics. Aleja wants to delve into patterns and processes explaining Neotropical plant diversity. She is particularly interested in how the interplay of natural history, geologic, and climatic changes, have shaped plant evolution in highly diverse Neotropical ecosystems
|
Luke Sparreo (2024-present) is a PhD student at CUNY/NYBG affiliated with our group. He is studying the evolution of Sarracenia, the North American pitcher plants. His research investigates the biogeographic history of southeastern North America and the spatial patterns of contemporary evolutionary processes like introgression and symbiotic interactions. More broadly, he is interested in collections-based phylogenetic approaches in non-model clades to answer evolutionary questions
|
Visiting scientists See opportunities for Visiting Scientist Travel Awards
César Santiago Morales (2025) Cifuentes is an Earth Sciences student at Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia.
He is passionate about geology and in dynamics at the intersection of biology and geology. He is working on an interdisciplinary, collections-based project in our research group linking geology and biology
Annabelle Wang (2025) was an intern in our group from NYU double-majoring in Biology and Environmental Studies
|
Maria Camila Trujillo Piña (2025) is fascinated by how geology can uncover the intricate stories behind the world we live in. Maria Camila is working on an interdisciplinary, collections-based project in our research group linking geology and biology
|
