CSA is please to welcome Austin Mast to the Board of Directors for a one-year appointment to fill an open seat. Austin brings leadership and (much needed, for CSA) financial management skills from his time as Past-President of the Society of Herbarium Curators, Treasurer of the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and member of the leadership team of iDigBio, NSF’s National Resource for Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections.

Austin is a professional biologist with a deep interest in focusing his domain’s widespread goodwill towards outreach activities into formal and sustained partnerships between professional science organizations and CSA—partnerships that can broadcast innovations and promulgate best-practices more effectively in both directions. He earned his PhD in Botany from University of Wisconsin—Madison in 2000, did a postdoc at the University of Zürich from 2000–2003, and served on the faculty of Florida State University’s Department of Biological Science since 2003 (now at the rank of Professor).  His research examines the interplay of ecology and evolution that determines the form and function of plant life on Earth.  He has taught Citizen Science as a graduate-level course, co-founded the annual Worldwide Engagement for Digitizing Biocollections (WeDigBio) Event, and co-designed several pieces of citizen-science-enabling cyberinfrastructure.  

Per our bylaws, this position (filled by appointment, rather than election) will initially be for one year.  That noted, Austin has been recruited for his financial accumen and is being groomed for CSA’s Treasurer role – we really hope that our next Treasurer will be willing to serve multiple years on the CSA Board. 

General nominations for the CSA Board of Directors are still open through Friday, February 8th.

Posted on: February 7, 2019  |  Category: Blog, CSA Blog, News