January Speaker Series | Forensic Botany: How Plants Solve Crimes (Webinar)

Explore the world of forensic botany with Dr. David Gibson, and learn how plants solve crimes.

We’ll learn about the field of forensic botany and the practical applications of it in solving crime, and what methods of study are included in
this field of research. Get your questions ready, and get cozy! This is an online webinar so you can learn from your own home!

Please register here for the webinar!

Speaker Biography

David J. Gibson was born in Cuckfield, West Sussex, England where he worked as a teenager
delivering newspapers, caddying golf, working in a sports shop, and serving drinks in local pubs.
He attended Warden Park School and Haywards Heath 6th form College before going to the
University of Reading to study botany. Crossing the Atlantic, he studied for his Masters in
botany at the University of Oklahoma before coming back to the UK for his PhD at the then
University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) – if you remember him, please get
in touch. After post-docs at Rutgers University and Kansas State University, and an Assistant
Professor position at the University of West Florida, he settled in 1984 at Southern Illinois
University Carbondale where he became a Professor of Plant Biology and University
Distinguished Scholar before retirement. Throughout his career, he taught botany and ecology
courses, including an undergraduate Forensic Botany course, and conducted research focused on
plant ecology. Married with two grown-up children, and two grandchildren, he’s finally given up
dreaming of being a professional football (soccer) player.

He remains a fan of Brighton and Hove Albion football club in the English Premier League. His books include academic books on
grassland ecology, a popular book on forensic botany, and most recently, the Memory Transfers series of science-fiction novels.