Pamela S. Soltis facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Pamela S. Soltis
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Soltis presenting at XX International Botanical Congress
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| Born | November 13, 1957 Nelsonville, Ohio
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| Nationality | American |
| Other names | Pamela Sagraves |
| Alma mater | University of Kansas |
| Spouse(s) | Douglas E. Soltis |
| Awards | Darwin–Wallace Medal (2016) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | P.S.Soltis |
Pamela Soltis (born November 13, 1957) is an American botanist. She studies plants and how they have changed over time. Dr. Soltis is a top professor at the University of Florida. She also works at the Florida Museum of Natural History. There, she helps manage plant collections and leads a lab that studies plant DNA. She also helped start the University of Florida Biodiversity Institute.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Pamela Soltis was born on November 13, 1957, in Nelsonville, Ohio. She grew up in Pella, Iowa, and finished high school in 1976 as the best student in her class. She was also a National Merit Finalist.
She went to Central College and earned a degree in biology in 1980. She graduated with very high honors. Later, she studied at the University of Kansas. She earned her master's degree in botany in 1984 and her Ph.D. in botany in 1986.
Career Highlights
After getting her Ph.D., Dr. Soltis started teaching at Washington State University in 1986. She became a full professor there in 1998. In 2000, Dr. Soltis moved to the University of Florida. She became a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. A curator is someone who manages collections, like plants in a museum.
At the University of Florida, she was a Research Professor from 2006 to 2009. She also helped lead the UF Computational Biology Program from 2009 to 2012.
Plant Research and Discoveries
Dr. Soltis's research focuses on the "tree of life." This means she studies how different living things are related to each other. She is especially interested in flowering plants, also called angiosperms. She wants to understand how they became so diverse and how they evolved.
She uses modern methods like studying plant DNA (genomics). She also uses natural history collections, which are like big libraries of plants. She uses computers to model how plants have changed over time. Her work helps us understand the family tree of flowering plants. She has written over 400 scientific papers. Many of her papers are about how having extra sets of genes (called polyploidy) helps plants succeed.
In 2016, Dr. Soltis was chosen to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences. This is a very high honor for scientists in the United States. She also joined the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.
Service to Science
Dr. Soltis has helped lead many important science groups. She was the president of the Botanical Society of America from 2007 to 2008. She has also served on the councils of other groups, like the Society for the Study of Evolution. She is currently the president of the Society of Systematic Biologists.
She also helps edit scientific journals like Evolution and Systematic Biology. She is a member of the University of Kansas Women's Hall of Fame.
Awards and Recognition
Dr. Soltis has received many awards for her work.
- In 2002, she won the Dahlgren Prize in Botany from Sweden.
- Reuters named her a highly cited researcher in 2014. This means her work is often used and referenced by other scientists.
- In 2006, she and her husband, Douglas Soltis, won the Asa Gray Award.
- She was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016.
- In 2016, she also received the Darwin–Wallace Medal. This medal is given for major advances in evolutionary biology.
Images for kids
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Pamela Soltis giving a presentation at a botanical congress.
See also
In Spanish: Pamela S. Soltis para niños
