Next Speaker: Chris Kjeldsen
Why Fungi: From Elvis the King to Environmental Engineers
This
month we are blessed to hear one of the founders of SOMA speak about why he loves
fungi in all their glory.
It was during lunch on the back deck of the Bodega Marine Laboratory when Dr. Chris Kjeldsen responded to a minor complaint about the MSSF being too far away to regularly attend the meetings and enjoy the company of other mycophiles. His response was to start another club. That was twenty years ago this June and the first meeting of SOMA was held in his lab at Sonoma State University in December, 1988. Kelly, as he is known to his friends, went on to coin the name for the local club as the Sonoma County Mycological Association and SOMA was born!
Dr. Kjeldsen is a cryptogrammic botanist with a specialty in the algae. Over the course of his teaching career he taught Mycology and peaked the biological interest of many students including several who went into Mycology. Dr. Allison Brown, Dr. Robin Fautley and Dr. Wes Colgan III are three who earned a Master's degree at SSU and went on to get a PhD in mycology. Dr. Kjeldsen was honored into myco-immortality when a new genus of truffles was named with the description of Kjeldsenia aureispora. Get more info on this truffle here »
Past speakers
Recent speakers at our monthly SOMA meetings.
2008
- David Campbell, Fungimental Mycophagy: a forest-to-table discussion about the basics and beyond of eating wild mushrooms
- Mia Maltz, Amazon Mycorenewal Project
- Dorothy Beebee, Fiber and Fungi—the First Forty Years
- Dr. Tom Volk, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
2007
- Dr. Sveta Yamin-Pasternak, PhD, Polar Regions Research, National Science Foundation: "From Tomorrow to Yesterday with a Myco-Scope Lens: Mushroom Tales from Russia and Alaska"
- Taylor Lockwood, New Book: Chasing the Rain: My Treasure Hunt for the World's Most Beautiful Mushrooms
- Dr. Roberto Garibay Orijel, Ph.D., UC Berkeley:"Men and Fungi, a travel through time and civilizations."
- Dr. Terry Henkel, Ph.D., Humboldt State Univeristy:"Going Fungal in the Jungle."
- Darvin DeShazer, Sonoma County Mycological Association.
- Tara Fulgenzi, Humboldt State University:"Boletaceae of Guyana."
- S. Coleman McCleneghan, Ph.D., "Fungal Stories from the Great Smoky Mountain ATBI: Documenting Friends and Foes."
- Gary Lincoff, New York Botanical Garden.
2006
- Dr. Ralph Metzner, Ph.D. Ayahuasca and the psilocybe mushrooms and how they relate to psychotherapy, shamanic journey practices and alchemical divination.
- Bob Engel of Gourmet Mushroom.
- Charmoon Richardson, Wild About Mushrooms Co. "Wild Culinary Mushrooms of Northern California."
- Judy Roger, North American Mycological Association. "The Oregon Chanterelle Study—20 years and Counting…"
- Dr. Beug, Ph.D., North American Mycological Association. "Reflections on Mushroom Poisonings."
- Denise Gregory, San Francisco State University. "Endophytic Fungi."
- Debbie Viess (AKA Amanitarita). "Amanitas of California."
- Leon Shernoff, Illinois Mycological Association and editor of Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming. "How do you know when a mushroom is strange?"
2005
- Dr. Rytas Vilgalys, Ph.D., Duke University. "The secret lives of mushrooms."
- Dr. Matteo Garbelotto, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley. "The Tanoak Mycorrhiza Community: Predicting the Effects of P. ramorum."
- Dr. Largent, Ph.D., Humboldt State University, emeritus. "The Fantastic Features of Fungi."
- Andy Wilson, Clark University. "Gymnopus."
- Dr. Dennis Desjardin, Ph.D., San Francisco State University, Mycological Society of San Francisco. "Why I Am A Mycologist."
- Dr. Fred Stevens, Ph.D. "Agaricus of California."
- Carla Mueller. "Enchanted Swedish Mushrooms."
- Dr. Tom Volk, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "Where Have All The Hydnums Gone?"
2004
- Dr. Bruce Ing, Ph.D., University College, Chester. "The Natural History of Myxomycetes."
- Dr. Gastón Guzmán, Ph.D., Instituto de Ecología at Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. "Traditions Of Mexican Mushrooms: Edible, Medicinal And Sacred."
- Scott Bates, University of Arizona. "Southwestern puffballs and earthstars: monography, phylogeny and spore ultrastructure in the Lycoperdaceae and Geastraceae."
- Dr. Tom Bruns, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley. "Observations on the Natural History of Ectomycorrhizal Fungi."
- Megan Romberg, University of California, Davis. "Experiments in dyeing with Fusarium."
- Dr. Donald Kowalski, Ph.D., California State University Chico, emeritus. "California Slime Molds."
- Dr. Elio Schaechter, Ph.D., San Diego Mycological Society.
- Gary Lincoff, New York Botanical Garden.
2003
- Dr. Jim Trappe, Ph.D.. "Truffles In Australia…And Why Do We Care?"
- Lawrence Glacy,"Panda Nature Reserves in China and their Fungal Ecology."
- Matthew Keile, University of Chicago. "Coprinoid Fungi of Hawaii."
- Dr. Lisa Grubisha, Ph.D.. "Channel Islands: Biogeography of Rhizopogon."
- Janice Alexander, University of California Cooperative Extension and California Oak Mortality Task Force. "Oak Death: Phytophthora ramorum in California."
- Dr. Steve Trudell, Ph.D., University of Washington. "Mycorrhizal Fungi: Foundation of Our Forests."
- Dr. Michael Kuo, Ph.D., Eastern Illinois University. "Everything we Know About Morels."
- Dr. Rod Tulloss, Ph.D..