The Mycological Society of America |
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2022 MSA Election Results |
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The Mycological Society of America (MSA) is pleased to announce and congratulate the following MSA members on election to their respective positions: |
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Tiimothy James, Vice President |
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Heather Hallen-Adams, Treasurer |
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Michelle Jusino, Councilor, Ecology and Conservation |
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Yan Weng, Councilor, Genetics and Cell Biology |
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Rachel Cook, Councilor, Symbiosis and Pathology |
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Catalina Salgado-Salazar, Councilor, Systematics and Evolution |
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Don't forget to register for the MSA Annual Meeting!
*Please note, the deadline to book a hotel room using the block discount is Friday, June 17.
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Dear Mycologists,
Warmest greetings from Tucson and the University of Arizona, where the Robert L. Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium and my lab are on the traditional homelands of the O’odham and Yaqui peoples.
I’m honored to submit my last President’s Corner, and I thank all MSA members for the opportunity to have served our society over this past year. I’m excited to reach a diversity of goals as I approach my last six weeks in office, and then will look forward to serving as a resource and supporter for our upcoming MSA leaders. I anticipate that wonderful work will be done by Julia Kerrigan, who will become MSA President in July, and Cathie Aime, who will follow in her footsteps a year later. Our Society is in good hands going forward, and I thank Julie and Cathie for their work to date and in the years to come.
Today, MSA continues to thrive. This is a reflection of our membership and the good will we each bring to the table. Here are a just few recent highlights from across our society.
First, we continue to work enthusiastically and carefully toward our goal to meet in-person in Gainesville for our 2022 MSA Annual Meeting. We are aiming to develop an inclusive, welcoming conference for all who desire to be present in-person and via online options, for those unable or unwilling to travel for any reason. With more than 200 abstracts submitted, it promises to be an exciting conference!
The program-at-a-glance, now available at the meeting landing page (https://msafungi.org/2022-msa-annual-meeting-mycology-in-the-swamp/), will feature all the scientific, social, and professional elements that help make our society shine: our annual Council meeting, the annual foray, an opening reception, many (many!) student awards, recognition of our outstanding members of distinction, 1-2 innovative symposia per day, exciting contributed talks, our always-special auction and social, and so much more. Please stay tuned for an announcement about an opportunity for online training in allyship prior to the conference, important in growing a diverse and inclusive society. More generally, we look forward to sharing plans for maintaining as safe an environment as possible given pandemic conditions.
As you look forward to ‘Mycology in the Swamp,’ please note that the meeting will conclude formally at the MSA Auction and Social on the night of July 13, with July 14 available for small group interactions by members, or travel home. I’d like to thank Matt Smith and Frances Trail, all members of our Program Committee, our Executive Council, our partners at The Rees Group and at the University of Florida, our friends in Gainesville who support diversity and inclusion on a local scale, our MSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, and our MSA Student and Postdoc Section for working toward a fabulous MSA meeting in Gainesville. We hope to see you there, in person or online.
Second, a word of thanks: MSA thrives because of our shared spirit of volunteerism and mutual support. I’d like to thank to all who cast their votes in our MSA election, as well as all candidates who were on the ballot. We also thank our Society members for contributing demographic data to our spring survey. Please stay tuned for more chances to have your voice heard: we are in the process of updating the MSA website and a survey about further improvements will be shared shortly by our Electronic Communication and Webpage Committee. In conjunction, we’ll be reaching out to ask for your thoughts regarding open access publishing. In the meantime, please keep an eye out for improvements to the content, structure, and accessibility of our website, and – as you think about where to publish your next paper – please keep Mycologia at the top of your list, no matter where your focus lies in the wide world of fungi.
Third, I’d like to take a moment to shine a light of thanks on all of our mentors and teachers in MSA. Your work is vital to the future of mycology and to the continued growth and diversity of our discipline. Thanks to all who have taken the opportunity to expand their support of junior scholars despite the challenges of the pandemic.
Inspired by others in MSA and beyond, I recently participated in a new program that connected undergraduate students at a historically black college and university with undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Arizona, a hispanic serving institution. An exchange of supplies, protocols, data, and conversations about graduate school led to a fruitful multi-week experience for students on both sides… and a great data set about endophytes to boot. It’s a great time to think about the positive impacts that even remote mentorship and teaching can offer as a complement to, and extension of, the activities we carry out at our own institutions.
Going forward, I encourage our society members to explore the many exciting elements MSA has to offer. I encourage us all to think about applying for the MSA Interchange Ambassador Award – a great way to introduce mycology beyond our existing bounds, and a wonderful framework for bringing new potential MSA members to our annual meeting. As our awards cycle begins again after our summer meeting, with nominations and the like due in February, please think about supporting a nomination package for a junior member of our society or an outstanding colleague. Despite the very real and often inequitably distributed burnout we all are feeling, thank to you to our members who continue to review manuscripts, serve in editorial roles, participate in grant review panels, and more: your contributions help ensure a bright future for mycology. If you’d like to learn more about such opportunities, or ways to engage in charting a future for MSA, please reach out – I am here to help.
All of this is to say that it’s been a true honor to serve MSA. Thank you to our Executive Council for their care for our Society: in a time that has both remembrance and hope interwoven, I am grateful for the teamwork that has carried us forward.
Yours in Service,
Betsy Arnold (she/her/hers)
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Executive Vice President's Report |
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Council Business: Three email polls were approved by Council since my February column: Poll 2022-01, Motion to pay for color images for all Karling Lecture papers published in Mycologia; Poll 2022-02, Motion to renew the MSA contract with The Rees Group; Poll 2022-03, Motion to approve the Honorary Awards Committee recommendation for MSA Fellow. The midyear meeting of the Executive Council occurred by videoconference March 5, 2022. Meeting minutes and midyear reports are available on the MSA website ( https://msafungi.org/msa-meeting-minutes-and-reports/). The Executive Council met with The Rees Group in Madison, WI on June 1-2, 2022, to discuss MSA budgets and finances. The Annual Council meeting is scheduled for July 9, 2022, in Gainesville, FL.
Member Deaths since February 2022: John Pitt (March 24, 2022).
New Members: I would like to extend a warm welcome to the following new members who joined MSA between February 2, 2022, and April 26, 2022. Their membership will be formally approved at the 2022 Annual Business Meeting in Gainesville, FL.
Canada: Faezeh Aliabadi, Kishoore Ramanathan, Carmen Allen
Columbia: Juan David Sanchez Tello
Japan: Junichi Peter Abe, Hiroshi Masumoto
Puerto Rico: Ambar Rivera
United States: Spencer Lord, Skyler Har, Kaori Hall, America Cox, Tiffany Do, Zhiqiang An, Aerin Ellard, Jeffrey Lackmann, Mariana Herrera, Kelsey Aadland, Katherine McAuliffe, April Dunn, Anahi Cantoran, Kyryll Savchenko, Elizabeth MacDougal, Griffin Davis, William Cornillie, Corbin Bryan, Ryan Handeland, Helen Law, Lauren French, Aeran Coughlin, Gary Kaercher Jr., Clara Qin, Jake Ballard, Thomas Muratore, Natalie Walter, Angela McEnerney, Brenna Giese, Laura Nevins, Ray Van Court, Magnolia Morelli, Ari Puentes, Brianna Santamaria, Marieke Ramsey, Syrena Whitner, Alan Rockefeller
2022 Membership: If you have not renewed your membership for 2022, please do so here: https://msafungi.org/join-us/. Committed MSA members are encouraged to select an auto-renew or multi-year option to receive the $10 early renewal discount and reduce unintended lapses in membership. You can also help us add new members by recommending MSA to amateur and professional colleagues interested in fungi, especially students and postdoctoral associates.
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Individual member, online subscription to Mycologia, 1yr
Individual member, online subscription to Mycologia, auto-renew
Individual member, online subscription to Mycologia, 2yrs
Individual member, online subscription to Mycologia, 3yr
Post-doctoral member, online subscription to Mycologia, 1yr
Student member, online subscription to Mycologia, 1 yr
Associate member, does not include Mycologia subscription, 1 yr Associate member, does not include Mycologia subscription, auto-renew
Associate member, does not include Mycologia subscription, 2 yr Associate member, does not include Mycologia subscription, 3 yr Additional family member (each), 1 yr
Additional family member (each), 2 yr
Additional family member (each), 3 yr
Online subscription to Mycologia for Emeritus members, 1 yr Sustaining member, online subscription to Mycologia, 1 yr
Life member, online subscription to Mycologia, unlimited
Affiliated member, online subscription to Mycologia, 1 yr
Affiliated member, online subscription to Mycologia, auto-renew
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REMINDER - MSA Directory Update: Have you checked your information in the MSA directory recently? Accurate information ensures that the MSA can continue to bring you timely information about awards, elections, meetings, and news. To review your information, visit (https://msafungi.org/membership/) or select the "Member Login" link found within the membership menu option at msafungi.org. If you need assistance, contact our MSA Membership Coordinator, Cori VanGalder (msafungi@reesgroupinc.com).
Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in getting more involved with the Society or have any questions about the Society or MSA business.
Respectfully submitted,
Emily Cantonwine (egcantonwine@valdosta.edu)
MSA Executive Vice President
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John Ingram Pitt (1937-2022)
We are sorry to report the death of John Ingram Pitt on 21 March 2022. An internationally acclaimed mycologist and food scientist, Pitt was elected an Honorary Member of the Mycological Society of America in 2001. He was born 13 March 1937 on a small family farm near Wamberal, NSW, Australia. He left the family farm to begin work at CSIRO as a Technical Assistant Grade 1 (Junior) two weeks before his 17th birthday. Pitt rose through many research positions rising to Chief Research Scientist (1992-2002); he worked beyond 2002 as an Honorary Research Fellow until 2019 after 65 years of service to CSIRO. His death while under treatment for lymphoma was confirmed by his son, Gordon Pitt, of Sydney, Australia.
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MSA Inoculum Educator Spotlight June 2022
Subject: Geoffrey Zahn
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Photo credit: Dr. Klara Scharnagl |
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The Hidden Kingdom of Fungi
Author: Keith Seifert
Submitted by: Gary J Samuels
Our mantra as graduate students of mycology in the 1960s was “No Fungi, No Future!” We knew, as Rob Dunn says in his Foreword to this book, that fungi hold the world together. But until recently nobody seemed to care or want to hear how their very lives depend on the activities of largely invisible organisms. To the non-mycological world, fungi were either edible or nasty.
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The Hypocreaceae of China
Author: W-Y Zhuang et al
Submitted by: Amy Rossman
For more than two decades now, the mycologists in China have been publishing comprehensive books on their fungi with a volume for each major group or even volumes covering just one genus such as Cercospora. Given the enormous size of their country and the tremendous diversity of geography, climate, and flora, these books represent an important contribution to the knowledge of fungi in China. This most recent account of the Hypocreaceae was sent to me by the Redactor Principalis and good friend, Dr. Wen-ying Zhuang.
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Newly Published and Upcoming Books to Watch For
Submitted by: Amy Rossman
Book Reviewer Wanted:
Allen, Michael F. 2022. Mycorrhizal Dynamics in Ecological Systems. Cambridge University Press. 318 pp. Price: $49.99. Paperback. Available in both print and digital form. Reviewer needed. Contact Amy Rossman amydianer@yahoo.com
Click on the button below to see a list of newly published or soon to be published books.
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Mycological Books for Free! Pay Shipping Only
The attached mycological books are available FREE except for the price of postage and handling (media mail within US ~$5.00- $6.00 depending on weight of book). Contact Ed Setliff at dsetliff@twcny.rr.com.
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Wanted: Mycologists of All Ages |
Look for the movable poster in Gainesville!
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Position Available on MSA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
The MSA Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee is recruiting a Secretary. This is a 4-year, chair-track commitment. All career levels are welcome to join! Please send a short summary on why you would be interested in being part of the Committee and what sort of projects you might be interested in carrying out.
Please submit your interest by the end of July 2022.
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MSA Education Committee Website Content
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The Mid-Atlantic States Mycology Conference 2022
Submitted by: Marc Cubeta, Rytas Vilgalys, Brandon Matheny, Julia Kerrigan, Henry Van Cotter & Meredith Blackwell
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The Mid-Atlantic States Mycology Conference (MASMC) was held April 22–24, 2022, in Clemson, South Carolina, organized by Clemson Professor and MSA President-Elect, Julia Kerrigan. Sixty-seven registrants from Clemson, Cornell, Duke, Francis Marion, Kennesaw State, Louisiana State, North Carolina State, and Purdue Universities, the Universities of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, and West Georgia, as well as Blue Ridge Community College, Western Pennsylvania Mushroom Club, and Gibbs School, attended the conference. |
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The State Mushroom Initiative: Every State Has its Own State Mushroom!
Submitted by: Else C. Vellinga
The state of California where I live, has a state tree (redwood: Sequoia sempervirens and Sequoiodendron giganteum), a state flower (Eschscholzia californica), even a state grass (Nassella pulchra), and also a state lichen (Ramalina menziesii). But there is no official California mushroom. In fact, only three states have a state mushroom: Minnesota, the first state to have one, chose the morel, Morchella esculenta; Oregon was second and has Cantharellus formosus as its state fungus; and in 2021 Texas announced that Chorioactis geaster achieved state symbol-dom.
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Cryptogams From Alissa Ball’s Family Land Near Huron National Forest, Michigan
Submitted by: Alissa Ball
MSA student member Alissa Ball has submitted numerous interesting photos of different fungi, all found on her family’s land near Huron National Forest, Michigan.
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Mycology Included: J. Dustin Williams of the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation
Submitted by: Meredith Blackwell
J. Dustin Williams has been promoted to Assistant Director of The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Williams holds BS degrees in English Language and Literature and in Computer Science (Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 2008) and a Masters of Library & Information Science in Archival Studies (University of Pittsburgh, 2009). He began work at the Institute in 2013 after several years in other positions at Carnegie Mellon University.
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Workshop: University of Michigan Biological Station |
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We invite you to a workshop on collecting, isolating, and classifying zoosporic fungi at the University of Michgan Biological Station, to take place August 9-14, 2022. For additional information, see here: ( http://websites.umich.edu/~mycology/UMBS.html) |
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Kansas State University Fusarium Laboratory Workshop
The Fusarium Laboratory Workshop will next be held at Kansas State University on June 19-24, 2022.
This workshop is taught by international Fusarium experts. Participants are introduced to standard morphological, genetic, and molecular biological techniques used to identify and characterize strains of Fusarium.
Participants will learn to use morphological characters to identify the most common Fusarium species, how to make tests for vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) and cross-fertility, and how to extract PCR amplify DNA, and analyze DNA sequences. More than half of the time will be spent in the laboratory working with standard strains. Students may bring some of their own strains. (Please contact Dr. Leslie to arrange for proper USDA permits.) See brochure for additional information.
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Eagle Hill Institute’s 2022 Mycology Seminar
With what is believed to be reasonable optimism and a mellow approach, the Eagle Hill Institute is offering in-person, week-long seminars in 2022. They will carefully monitor and follow CDC and state health safety guidelines. A COVID-19 vaccination certificate (including proof of the booster shot) will be required.
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Remember to enable emails from msafungi@reesgroupinc.com for continued MSA updates.
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It's time to renew your membership for 2022! Access your MSA membership profile here!
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Digital issues of Mycologia are now accessed on the MSA website, not at Taylor and Francis. You will need your log in information. See web page for troubleshooting steps.
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Thank you to all who have donated to MSA funds since our last publication of Inoculum!
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MSA continues to be immensely appreciative of all of the generous donors that allow the Society to continue to fund research and travel through various endowment funds. If you're interested in supporting any of these funds, there are multiple ways you can donate!
- Use MSA's secure donation portal (you will be redirected to Wild Apricot, the payment processing platform for MSA)
- Donate while renewing your membership
- Call the MSA Membership Coordinator with your donation information at (608) 441-1060 ext. 162
- Mail a check, paid to the order of The Mycological Society of America to:
The Mycological Society of America
2424 American Lane
Madison, WI 53704
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We Want to See Your Fungal Photos! |
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Your fungal photo could be featured as the header for the next issue of Inoculum!
MSA is calling for your photos! Chosen photos will appear in future issues of Inoculum. Submit your photos along with your name and any text you'd like to accompany the image (optional) using the button below!
The June 2022 Inoculum header photo was submitted anonymously.
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The Mycological Society of America | (608) 441-1060 | 2424 American Ln. Madison, WI, 53704 | MSAfungi.org
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