Toby Spribille

Toby Spribille

The Henssen Award Committee is honored to present the 2016 Henssen Award to Toby Spribille. Among the candidates for this award, Toby stood out in number, impact, and breadth of publications since his PhD (in 2011). He has published widely in such areas as taxonomy, phylogenetics, biogeography, ecology, mycobiont-photobiont interactions, and conservation of lichens. More recently, he has also begun to use genomics approaches in lichen biology.

To pursue his diverse research interests, Toby collaborates with lichenologists all over the world. During his career he has switched research institutes frequently (including stays at Montana, Chicago, Graz, and others) and established a strong professional network. The committee feels that Toby creatively uses his unique combination of expertise in various disciplines, as well as his connectedness in the community, to both advance the field of lichenology and showcase lichens to a broader audience.

– Henssen Award Committee 2016: Imke Schmitt, Rebecca Yahr, Andreas Beck