ODU Presents: Robin Kimmerer

ODU Presents: Lytton J. Musselman Natural History Lecture Featuring Robin Kimmerer
Scientist, Writer and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Lecture Title: "Gathering Moss: Lessons from the Small and Green"

Robin Wall Kimmerer is a scientist, writer and Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. She is the founding director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs that draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for our shared goals of sustainability. As a plant ecologist and bryologist, she has spent decades researching mosses, the most ancient of land plants. She is the author of numerous scientific papers and literary works, including "Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses," which was awarded the prestigious John Burroughs medal, and most recently the award-winning volume "Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants." She is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Kimmerer teaches classes in the ecology of mosses, ethnobotany and indigenous issues and the environment. Her interests include not only the restoration of ecological communities, but also restoration of our relationships to the land. In collaboration with tribal partners, she has an active research program in the restoration of plants of cultural significance to Native people. She is active in efforts to introduce traditional ecological knowledge to the scientific community in a way that respects and protects indigenous knowledge.