Lewis Feldman
Science and Ideas Group
Touring the University of California Botanical Garden
For his talk today, Lew will take us on a tour of the UC Botanical Garden, located on the UC Berkeley campus. He will discuss the history of the Garden and its roles in research and conservation. He will also discuss Garden Education Programs in which Ashby Village Members might have an interest. Lewis Feldman is the Director of the UC Botanical Garden. He is a graduate of UC Davis and received his Ph.D. from Harvard, after which he came to Berkeley on a post-doctoral fellowship. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Department of Botany (now the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology) where he has spent his entire academic career as a Professor of Plant Biology. He is a plant developmental biologist and for his research has focused on root development. He remains involved in teaching and has served as a long-time instructor in Berkeley’s large introductory biology class, with over 750 students. His main thrust as Director of the UC Botanical Garden is to ensure that the plant collection is curated and well managed, which involves raising funds to maintain and update the facilities for caring for the plants. Additionally, as Director, he works to promote Garden activities in Conservation, Education and Research.