• Lynchburg College (Lynchburg, Virginia), B.S. in Biology (cum laude), June 1968
• University of Virginia Mountain Lake Biological Station, graduate courses in 1971 and 1974
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia), M.S. in Botany, June 1970; Ph.D. in Botany, June 1977

• Research Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Arkansas, 2003-present
• William Evans Visiting Fellow, University of Otago (New Zealand), 2002
• Visiting Professor, Division of Forestry, West Virginia University, 1995-2002 (summers)
• Visiting Scientist, Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research (New Zealand), January-May 1998
• Visiting Scientist, Australian Antarctic Division (Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition to Macquarie Island), January-May 1995
• Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Himachal Pradesh University (Shimla, India), 1987
• Professor, Fairmont State College (Fairmont, West Virginia), 1976-2003

Five Publications Relevant to the Proposed Research:

• Stephenson SL. 1988. Distribution and ecology of myxomycetes in temperate forests. I. Patterns of occurrence in the upland forests of southwestern Virginia. Canadian Journal of Botany 66:2187-2207.
• Stephenson SL. 1989. Distribution and ecology of myxomycetes in temperate forests. II. Patterns of occurrence on bark surface of living trees, leaf litter, and dung. My cologia 81:608-621.
• Stephenson SL, I Kalyanasundaram and TN Lakhanpal. 1993. A comparative biogeographical study of myxomycetes in the mid-Appalachians of eastern North America and two regions of India. Journal of Biogeography 20:645-657.
• Stephenson SL and H Stempen. 1994. Myxomycetes: a Handbook of Slime Molds. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 183 pp. (Reprinted in 2000.)
• Stephenson SL. 2003. Myxomycetes of New Zealand. (Volume III in the Series "Fungi of New Zealand"). Fungal Diversity Press, Hong Kong. 238 pp.

Five Other Significant Research Publications:

• Stephenson SL, M Schnittler and C Lado. 2004. Ecological characterization of a tropical myxomycete assemblage-Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador. Mycologia 96:488-497.
• Stephenson SL, M Schnittler, C Lado, A Estrada-Torres, D. Wrigley de Basanta, JC Landolt, YK Novozhilov, J Clark, DL Moore and FW Spiegel. 2004. Studies of Neotropical mycetozoans. Systematics and Geography of Plants 74:87-108.
• Stephenson SL, GA Laursen and RD Seppelt. 2007. Myxomycetes of subantarctic Macquarie Island. Australian Journal of Botany 55:439-449.
• Stephenson SL, M Schnittler and YK Novozhilov. 2008. Myxomycete diversity and distribution from the fossil record to the present. Biodiversity and Conservation 17:285-301.
• Stephenson SL. 2010. The Kingdom Fungi: The Biology of Mushrooms, Molds, and Lichens. Timber Press, Portland, Oregon. 272 pp.

Synergistic Activities:

• Developed undergraduate courses in Plant Taxonomy, Tropical Studies, Global Ecology, and Terrestrial Ecology for the biology curriculum at Fairmont State College, graduate/under-graduate courses for the Division of Forestry at West Virginia University (Vegetation of West Virginia) and the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas (Mycetozoans, Forest Ecology, Terrestrial Ecosystems, and Myxomycetes).
• Organized symposia at several different meetings, the most recent of which was a special symposium on Mycetozoan Biodiversity held as part of the Eighth International Mycological Congress on (which took place in Cairns, Australia, in August of 2006).
• Developed, with the help of a former student (Denise Binion), a web site (www.myxoweb.com) that serves as a general introduction to the myxomycetes. Much of the information on the web site was derived from a book ("Myxomycetes: a handbook of slime molds" by Stephenson and Stempen) that represented, when it was published by Timber Press in 1994, the first true field guide to this group of organisms. The book has been translated into Spanish and ultimately will be made available in Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America.

Collaborators and Research Associates: Scientists (other than those listed below) with whom I have had a long-term association and/or with whom I have collaborated on some paper or project within the last 48 months are Dr. Harold S. Adams (Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, Virginia), Dr. Jim Clark (University of Kentucky), Dr. Peter R. Johnston (Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, New Zealand), Dr. John C. Landolt (Shepherd College, West Virginia), Dr. Gary A. Laursen (University of Alaska, Fairbanks), Dr. Donna L. Moore (Corning Community College, New York), Dr. Rodney D. Seppelt (Australian Antarctic Division), Dr. Fred Spiegel (University of Arkansas), Dr. David Orlovich (University of Otago, New Zealand), and Dr. James C. Cavender (Ohio University).

Graduate and Post Doctoral Advisors: My graduate advisers were Drs. E. Fred Benfield, Orson K. Miller, Jr., Robert A. Paterson, Duncan M. Porter and Dr. Richard W. Rhoades. Dr. Rhoades was my major professor.

Thesis Advisor and Postgraduate-Scholar Sponsor: I am currently the primary advisor to five graduate students (Katherine Winsett, Francis Onduso, Ankush Nautiyal, Laura Walker and Shelly Bursick). Postdoctoral scholars I have hosted include Dr. Indira Kalyanasundaram of the University of Madras (in India) [October 1990 to January 1991], Dr. Ashok Kumar (Oilseeds Research Station in Kangra, India) [August 1992 to November 1992], Dr. Rajendra Bhatt (Garhwal University in India) [September to December 1992], Dr. Yura Novozhilov (V. L. Komarov Botanical Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia) [September to November 1997 and June to July 1998], Dr. Martin Schnittler (Federal Agency for Nature Conservation, Germany) [September 1998 to October 2000], and Dr. Larissa Vasilyeva (Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok, Russia) [March 2002, September 2002 and June 2006].

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