David Tank wins UI Presidential Mid-Career Award

David Tank, Ph.D., professor in Biological Sciences and director of the Stillinger Herbarium, is the 2016/2017 recipient of the Presidential Mid-Career Award. This award was established in 2011-12 to acknowledge achievements made by gifted faculty usually during the middle of their career, who have demonstrated a commitment to outstanding scholarship, teaching, and engagement.

Research in the Tank lab (currently consists of six graduate students — three doctoral students, three master's students — and two postdocs) is directed at multiple levels of plant phylogeny. Current projects range from comparative phylogeography of the Pacific Northwest inland rain forest communities, to the study of species boundaries and diversification among very closely related species, to patterns of diversification among some of the major lineages comprising the plant tree of life.

Tank is considered a leader in his field — Plant Systematics. He has published in well-cited journals and collaborates widely with some of the top researchers in his field. He is also part of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group that publishes the accepted phylogenetic classification of flowering plants used worldwide.

Congratulations, Dr. Tank, on a well deserved award!