Alex McAlvay, Ph.D. is a Research Scientist in the Center for Plants, People, and Culture at the New York Botanical Garden; an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Columbia University; and an Expert for Regen10 Experts Network. His research is focused on understanding the relationships between humans and their environments, the evolutionary and ecological impacts of humans on plants, and the traditional stewardship of plants by many different cultures. His work includes projects in Mexico, Ethiopia, the United States, and elsewhere, with a focus on food sovereignty, agrobiodiversity, and the continuity and revitalization of traditions related to plants. He obtained a B.S. from Western Washington University, a Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and completed a postdoc at Cornell University before starting at NYBG.
2025 Plant Humanities Conversations:
Faith in a Seed
March 12, 2025
12 to 1:30 p.m. | Online
A Collaboration between NYBG’s Humanities Institute and Dumbarton Oaks
Plants are the primary ecosystem builders supporting all life on earth and profoundly shaping human societies, from food and medicine to art and culture. Yet 45% of all flowering plants are threatened with extinction. The wonder, fragility, and resilience of plant life are attracting strong public as well as scholarly interest. This series of online conversations brings together plant experts from different backgrounds who will share the important and captivating work they are doing to protect and foster biodiversity and—by extension—human diversity. The series expands the dynamic network of experts and institutions contributing to the burgeoning field of Plant Humanities, whose goal is to study and communicate the vital importance of plants to societies and ecosystems.
In the first session of this series, Dr. Alex McAlvay (NYBG) and Dr. Courtney Fullilove (Wesleyan University) will engage with seeds as objects of complex human-plant relationships. Dr. McAlvay will explore the importance of seed repositories in relation to the preservation of food biodiversity, while Dr. Fullilove will examine seeds as deep time technologies in the context of America’s agricultural history. The panel will be moderated by Sir Peter Crane, President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation.
This event is online and open to the public. You will receive a Zoom link to join the talk upon registration.
RSVP
About the Speakers
Courtney Fullilove, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of History and affiliated faculty in the Science in Society Program and the College of the Environment at Wesleyan University, where she teaches 19th-century U.S. social history, environmental history, and the history of science and technology in global perspective. She researches the history of practices now gathered under the rubric of world development: sustainability, biodiversity, intellectual property law, traditional knowledge, and cultural heritage. She is author of The Profit of the Earth: The Global Seeds of American Agriculture (University of Chicago Press, 2017) and is currently working on a book about biodiversity preservation.
Sir Peter Crane is President of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Virginia, an estate of Rachel Lambert Mellon that includes an exquisite garden as well as an exceptional library focused on the history of plant science, plant exploration, and the development of gardens and landscape design. He is known internationally for his work on the diversity of plant life—its origin, fossil history, current status, conservation, and use. Previously he was Director of the Field Museum in Chicago, Director of The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in the UK and Dean of the Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (now the Yale School of Environment). He is the recipient of several honorary degrees from universities in the UK and US. He received the International Prize for Biology in December 2014 as well as the Darwin-Wallace Medal of the Linnaean Society of London and the Garden Club of America Medal of Honor in 2024.
Location Online
Location Online