Hi, I am Alina Freire Fierro. I am a botanist from Ecuador.
I am originally from a small mountain village called Colonia Azuay in Tungurahua province, but grew up primarily in Baños, Tungurahua, on the slopes of Volcán Tungurahua which became active very recently. Me and my family later moved to Quito, the capital of Ecuador.
I have attended graduate school in São Paulo, Brazil and St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. I have acquired two Master’s Degrees along the way. I am a plant systematist, which means I am primarily concerned with the naming and classification of types of plants into species, genera, families, etc.
From 1998 to 2000 I was a researcher at the National Herbarium in Quito, Ecuador (where I lived until 2000) and have taught General Botany and Flora of Ecuador for Ecotourism majors at Catholic University and Systematic Botany at Universidad San Francisco de Quito.
During 1999 to 2001 I was Directora Ejecutiva of the Ecuadorian Foundation of Botany (FUNBOTANICA), a professional organization of botany in Ecuador. During this period, FUNBOTANICA and the Ecuadorian National Herbarium organized the III Ecuadorian Botanical Congress held in October of 2000 in Quito. Dr. David Neill, Curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden and Honorary Director of the National Herbarium and I published in 2002 the Proceedings of the congress.
On April 2002 I joined the Missouri Botanical Garden, where I worked as a Latin American Researchers liaison, as well in the systematics and taxonomy of Polygalaceae, especially in the ongoning revision of Monnina, for the series Flora Neotropica. Also, I have recently published the book Botanica Sistematica Ecuatoriana. Currently, I live in Philadelphia, where I work as the Collection Manager of the Botany Department at the
Academy of Natural Sciences.
During my free time I administer the website of FUNBOTANICA and moderate the discussion group Anuncios Botánicos.
For a “healthy mind in a healthy body”, I have been practicing Aikido in Ecuador, in St. Louis, and now in Philadelphia. Also, I am learning Shinto Muso-ryu Jo and Daito Ryu.
Commentaries?:
freirefierro at ansp dot org
