Orchids of the Herbarium

Nicole Tarnowsky is the Assistant Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium and has worked at the Garden for 28 years. Sharing our Herbarium collections with a wider audience has become a great interest, exploring not only the scientific value of specimens but also the historical, cultural, and artistic stories these collections represent.

Kenneth R. Otero Walker is currently the Project Manager of the NSF-funded Biocultural Diversity Collections Project at the New York Botanical Garden, where he is assisting in securing, digitizing, and increasing access to herbarium collections with links to biocultural knowledge. A Bronx-born New York City native, Kenneth graduated from the prestigious Brooklyn Technical High School, majoring in Biochemistry through the Gateway to Medicine program before meriting a Bachelors in Latin American Studies with a minor in Africana studies at Binghamton University. This emerging ethnobotanist has spoken internationally on a number of ethnobiological topics, from biocultural collections research and management to fostering greater recognition of Caribbean traditional plant knowledge.

Ash Welch is the newest member of the Herbarium team and a recent graduate of the College of the Atlantic. They have an interest in every aspect of the natural world and love discussing the treasures held in the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium.