Dana Thomas earned a Master of Science degree in Botany, with a certificate in Ecology, from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.  She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Southwest Missouri State University.  Her resume includes nine years of botanical and biological work for several agencies and organizations including The Nature Conservancy, National Park Service, Missouri Department of Conservation, University of Missouri and Southwest Missouri State University.  She also taught seven semesters of Field Botany and General Botany to undergraduates.  Participants in her classes find her to be highly knowledgeable, personable and possessing a contagious enthusiasm.

Justin Thomas is currently finishing a Master of Science degree in Botany from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and holds a Bachelors Degree in Biology from the University of Missouri.  His resume includes 10 years of botanical field work divided between The Nature Conservancy, Missouri Department of Conservation, the National Park Service, Dunn-Palmer Herbarium, William Sherman Turrell Herbarium, and the Missouri Botanical Garden.  This range of positions has armed him with an encyclopedic knowledge of Midwestern flora and related conservation issues.  He has published two papers dealing with the vegetative identification of Midwestern Goldenrods (Solidago) and Muhly Grasses (Muhlenbergia).  He has also written numerous vegetative keys to some of the most difficult genera in the Midwest including Aster, Polygonum, Carex, Lespedeza, and Juncus.  His teaching philosophy is to educate, not overwhelm.  Workshop attendees find him dynamic, humorous and extremely knowledgable.

Institute of Botanical Training, LLC, Rt. 4 Box 946  Salem, MO  65560
Phone: 317-430-6566 | Email: mail@botanytraining.com