John Thomson Award
Click here for the 2024 John Thomson Research Award application instructions
In 1968 "Dean of North American Lichenology", Dr. John Walter Thomson (1913-2009), founded the Botanical Club of Wisconsin as an affiliate of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Read the Wisconsin Flora's complete memoriam devoted to Dr. Thomson by clicking here.
Dr. Thomson was professor of botany at the UW Madison for four decades. He served as former president of the American Bryological Society and of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and served on the board of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.
In 1992 Dr. Thomson was awarded the Acharius Medal by the International Association of Lichenology in recognition of outstanding contributions to lichenology. Author of five books, including two volumes on American Arctic Lichens and Lichens of the Alaskan Slope, Dr. Thomson published dozens of scientific and technical papers.
To honor the memory of Dr. Thomson, the John Thomson Research Award was established to encourage student research on Wisconsin's non-cultivated plants. The annual award is presented to a deserving undergraduate and graduate student from an accredited college or university each year. Selections for the John Thomson Research Award is by the Botanical Club of Wisconsin Board. Award funds are administered by the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin.
Purpose: To encourage student research on Wisconsin’s non-cultivated plants
Amount: $1000 per student
Eligibility: Any graduate or undergraduate student enrolled at an accredited college or university
Click here to open the 2024 John Thomson Research Award application instructions
Recipients of the Thomson Award
2022 - Graduate - Norah Swenson, UWGB “Pollen load analysis of native spring bees to determine spring pollen resource use”
2022 - Undergraduate - Abigail Widell, UW-Madison “Intraspecific variation of plant functional traits with woody management in tallgrass prairie”
2021 - Graduate - Dan Sandacz, Northwestern University
“The impact of invasive plant removal on Cirsium pitcheri (Pitcher’s thistle) and its plant-pollinator network”
2021 - Undergrad - Lucas Turpin, UW-Platteville.
“Determining extent of inbreeding depression in small or isolated populations of two rare dry prairie species, Pediomelum esculentum and Callirhoe triangulata, through seed viability testing.”
2020 - Undergrad - Sam Ahler, UW Madison
“The effects of winter climate change on prairie plant bud bank survival and growth.”
2020 - Graduate - Cara Streekstra, UW Madison
“Evolution and biogeography of Phlox divaricata and its subspecies”
2019 - Graduate - Jared Beck, UW Madison
“A coexistence conundrum: Exploring the spatial distribution and ecological niches of co-occurring Hylodesmum species.”
Results published in the Spring 2020 Newsletter
2019 - Undergraduate/Faculty - Sarah Johnson, Northland College
“Habitat assessments and monitoring of Wisconsin state-listed rare species in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore.”
Results published in the Spring 2021 Newsletter
2018 - Graduate - Andrea Weissgerber, UW Madison
“The presence and disappearance of Cypripedium candidum in the southeast glacial plains of Wisconsin.”
Results published in the Spring 2019 Newsletter
2018 - Undergrad - Dan Sandacz, Lawrence University
“Effects of microclimate on phenology of Pitcher’s thistle and its implications on attack from an invasive insect at Whitefish Dunes State Park.”
Results published in the Winter 2018 Newsletter
2017 N/A (no applications received)
2016 N/A (no applications received)
2015 Maegan Gagne - Declining growth of four boreal species at a southern range boundary: Does heat sensitivity or drought stress as a function of rising temperature have a stronger impact?
2014 Jeffrey Rose - Evolution and Biogeography of Polemonium (Polemoniaceae): Taxonomy and Population Genetics of Polemonium occidentale Greene subsp. lacustre Wherry.
2013 Matthew Pace - The evolution and population genetics of Wisconsin's rarest orchid: Spiranthes lucida (H. H. Eaton) Ames.
2012 Mary Bartkowiak - Lichen Flora for Portage County, Wisconsin.
2011 N/A (no applications received)
2010 Lisa Maas - Investigating drivers, impacts, and patterns of exotic plant invasions in Southern Wisconsin.