Faculty and Presenters
Sam Bucciarelli
Sam is the president of the Philadelphia Mycology Club, a tour guide, an educator, and a student with a passion for ecology, especially as it pertains to fungi and the role they play in helping our ecosystems thrive. She grew up in the NJ Pinelands, but brought her passion for all things wild to Philadelphia in 2017 and has been sharing that passion with others ever since. Her love of fungi specifically began through the encouragement to participate in community science, which has been her focus.
Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian
Dr. Kaishian is the Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum, as well as faculty with the Bard Prison Initiative. Her research focuses on fungal taxonomy, diversity, evolution, symbiosis, and ecology, particularly of the less studied fungal groups, such as the insect-associated Laboulbeniales. She is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature, is a collection of essays challenging our expectations of what is normal, beautiful, and possible. encouragement to participate in community science, which has been her focus.
Sneha Ganguly
Sneha Ganguly (born 1989, Jamshedpur, India), also known as Kali Mushrooms, is an interdisciplinary artist identifying and studying wild fungi with a special interest in biological materials and pigments, to create handmade papers, inks, dyes, and extracts. Her work explores the potential of novel mushroom- and mycelium-based materials as a creative medium. Currently, she instructs courses on applied mycology and mushroom cultivation for Cornell Small Farms, as well as for parks, community and cultural organizations in the NYC metro area. You can read about her work in the New York Times, Yes! Magazine, and Time Out NYC. www.kalimushrooms.com
Teresa Iturriaga, PhD
Dr. Iturriaga is currently the curator at the Cornell University Plant Pathology Herbarium. Born in Caracas, Venezula, Dr. Iturriaga holds a master's and PhD from Cornell University in Plant Pathology and Mycology. She has held a number of roles including Director of the Fungal Culture collection, Curator of Plants and Fungi, and Director of the Science Museum at Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezula before becoming the curator at Cornell. Dr. Iturriaga belongs to the International Society for Fungal Conservation, International Mycological Association, Mycological Society of America, Latin American Mycological Association, and the Venezuelan Society for Mycology and has published more than 150 publications in journals, books, and magazines.
Bill Yule
Bill Yule is a retired High School Biology teacher and Environmental Educator, Naturalist and amateur Mycologist . In addition he taught Ecology and Environmental Education at The Connecticut River Museum for 20 years. He has been active in mycological education for 30 plus years and has given more than 100 education programs throughout the country. He is a member and educator for four local "Mushroom clubs": Connecticut Valley Mycological Society, CT/Westchester Mycological Association, Rhode Island Mycological Society and Pioneer Valley Mycological Association, as well as a past Board member of the North American Mycological Association. Current interests are fungal ecology, forest and watershed ecology, fungal-insect relationships and all things fungal. Bill is focused on the evolution of co-adapted species in forest ecosystems through the lens of fungi and their associations. He currently works for the State of Connecticut Agricultural Research Station Mycology Lab doing macrofungi biodiversity surveys of Connecticut’s’ major watershed.
Richard Tehan
Richard Tehan grew up in upstate NY and attended Utica University, receiving a B.S. in Chemistry. He obtained a Ph.D. in a Medicinal Chemistry program at Oregon State University College of Pharmacy, where he studied drug discovery and chemical ecology in insect-pathogenic fungi in the lab of Dr. Kerry McPhail. Richard is currently Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Utica University where he teaches chemistry and biochemistry and conducts research focused on drug discovery, chemical ecology, evolution, and taxonomy of fungi with particular interest in Hypocrealean entomopathogens and allies broadly known as “Cordyceps”. Research efforts are aimed at the discovery of new fungal species and new antibiotics and anticancer agents produced by fungi as well as the elucidation of the ecological roles of these metabolites. Richard has been a passionate mushroom hunter and photographer for fifteen years. He serves as scientific advisor to the Greater Utica Mycological Society, a mycology club based in Utica, NY.
Spencer Lowrey
Spencer Lowery is a forager, educator, and advocate who has spent over 12 years exploring the intersection of mycology, conservation, and community science. He serves as Vice President and Treasurer of the Alabama Mushroom Society and is the founder of Forage North America, a platform dedicated to reconnecting people with nature through fungi-focused education and storytelling. Spencer's work emphasizes accessible, inclusive approaches to mushroom identification, citizen science, and ecological stewardship. A neurodivergent naturalist himself, Spencer is passionate about highlighting the unique perspectives neurodivergent individuals bring to the field of mycology and creating space for diverse minds in the fungal community.
Arleen Bessette
Arleen Bessette is a mycologist and botanical photographer, as well as a retired psychotherapist. She has published several papers in the field of mycology and has authored or coauthored more than 25 books including: Mushrooms of Cape Cod and the National Seashore, The Rainbow Beneath My Feet: A Mushroom Dyer’s Field Guide, and Mushrooms of the Southeastern United States. Her most recent book is A Field Guide to the Mushrooms of the Carolinas 2nd Edition. Arleen has won several awards in the North American Mycological Association’s annual photography competition, including top honors in both the documentary and the pictorial divisions. She teaches courses on both national and regional levels.
Shannon Nix
Dr. Shannon Nix is a fungal ecologist who received her B.S. from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Ph.D. from Rutgers University. Prior to becoming a tenured professor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Shannon studied the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance on fungal communities as a Fulbright Fellow at the Agricultural University of Norway and as a Post Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Georgia Experiment Station. During her career as a professor at Clarion and George Mason universities, she taught undergraduate and graduate-level courses in mycology, botany, microbiology and environmental science. Shannon left academia in 2020 but continues to investigate the impacts that management and land-use practices have on the composition and diversity of ectomycorrhizal fungi in post-agricultural and transitional forests in the western Finger Lakes region of New York State. In addition to her work as an independent scholar, Shannon is a Science Associate for S.P.U.N (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks) and recently became a sequence validator for DNAMA Volunteer Sequence Validation Corps.
Amanda Dye
Amanda Dye is an applied mycologist and urban farmer at The Southeast Asian Coalition of Central MA Fungi Farm in Worcester, MA. She holds a B.A in Global Environmental Studies and a Master’s in Public Administration from Clark University. Dye’s work spans the fields of mycology, public policy, and sustainable development by working in collaboration with nonprofits and institutions to create a more just and equitable food system through fungiculture. She is passionate about making mycology more accessible, creating economic opportunities, and solving real world problems, such as food insecurity, with the help of fungi. She is the founder of Mandy’s Mushrooms and The Fungi for Everyone Project, and helped establish the Clark
University Mycology Club in 2022.
Alan Bessette
Alan Bessette is a professional mycologist and emeritus professor of biology at Utica College of Syracuse University. He has published numerous papers in the field of mycology and has authored or coauthored more than thirty books, including: Mushrooms of Northeastern North America, Boletes of Eastern North America, and Mushrooms of the Gulf Coast States. His latest book is A Field Guide to the Mushrooms of theCarolinas 2nd Edition. Alan has been the principal mycologist at national and regional forays, and was the recipient of the 1987 Mycological Foray Service Award and of the 1992 North American Mycological Association Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology (renamed in 2015 as the “Gary Lincoff Award for Contributions to Amateur Mycology”.)
Quinn Moon
Quinn grew up foraging mushrooms in his hometown of Taos, New Mexico. During his undergraduate studies at the University of Hawaii, he completed a series of research topics focused on genomics and fungi. Quinn is now a PhD candidate in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan and works to apply various 'omics techniques to understand the diversity and function of fungi in the Deep Subsurface Biosphere. Additionally, Quinn has taught several mycology courses and workshops as well as presenting mycological research at conferences around the country. Quinn remains deeply curious about the entire fungal tree of life and its continued exploration and conservation.
Christian Kustra
Christian is a Mechanical Engineer with a love for fungi. Much of Christian's free time is spent foraging around Philadelphia, posting to iNaturalist, and participating in Philadelphia Mycology Club events as a speaker and foray leader.
Tom Horton
Tom is an Emeritus Professor of Mycology and Plant Ecology from SUNY-ESF. After getting his BA at Humboldt State University, he earned an MA in Ecology & Systematics at San Francisco State University and a PhD at UC Berkeley. His research focused on identifying mushrooms with molecular DNA tools and investigating the ecology and taxonomy of ectomycorrhizal fungi in forests. He recently retired from SUNY-Environmental Science and Forestry where students in his lab also focused on ectomycorrhizal fungi.