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<div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Dear </span>
<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">plant enthusiasts,</span><br>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">The Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the United States Botanic Garden will hold the 19</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><sup><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">th</span></sup></span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">
Smithsonian Botanical Symposium, “<a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany/news-and-highlights/smithsonian-botanical-symposium" data-auth="NotApplicable" title="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany/news-and-highlights/smithsonian-botanical-symposium">Life
on the Edge: Exceptional Plants in Exceptional Places</a>,” on 13 May 2022.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">The
Symposium will explore current research on plants in extreme environments, examining their natural history, evolution, and value for human survival, in the face of climate change and increasing pollution. Speakers will include scientists specializing in conservation,
ecology, systematics, and genetics whose research explores plant survival in extreme parts of the natural world.</span><span><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">
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<div style="text-align:center" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif"><img class="x_x_x_w-1216 x_x_x_h-610" size="228873" style="width:389px; height:195px; max-width:initial" width="389" height="195" data-outlook-trace="F:4|T:4" src="cid:87f2f2e7-b09d-4ebb-8994-2ddf8870d6ef"></span><br>
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<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">We are happy to announce the line-up of speakers of the Symposium:
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span class="x_x_x_MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0px 0in; font-size:11pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Jessica Allen, Eastern
Washington University - “Urban lichens: symbioses in the built environment”</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Jenna Ekwealor, Smithsonian Institution - "The secret lives of desert moss”</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><i><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span></i></span>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Fabian A. Michelangeli, New York Botanical Garden</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span class="x_x_x_MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0px 0in; font-size:11pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">
- </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">“Endemism and adaptations in the flora of the lost world”</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Ben Nyberg, National Tropical Botanical Garden</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span class="x_x_x_MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0px 0in; font-size:11pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">
- </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">“A conservation airlift: applications of drone technology in plant conservation”</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">Tanisha M. Williams, Bucknell University</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span class="x_x_x_MsoNoSpacing" style="margin:0px 0in; font-size:11pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">
- </span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">“Protecting the Fynbos: climate change insights from South Africa”</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">
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<span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">Information about the speakers and the abstracts of their talks have been posted on the
<a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany/news-and-highlights/smithsonian-botanical-symposium" data-auth="NotApplicable" title="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/research/botany/news-and-highlights/smithsonian-botanical-symposium">
Symposium webpage</a>.</span><br>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">The National Museum of Natural History has lifted all pandemic restrictions. The Symposium will be held as a hybrid event, serving both in-person and virtual guests. If you wish to attend
in-person, the Symposium will be held at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. If you wish to attend virtually, a Zoom link will be provided after you register online. All attendees, both in-person and virtual, are asked to register at
</span><a href="https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l7QFKW9BSZ-ss6uyWW9Erg" data-auth="NotApplicable"><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_l7QFKW9BSZ-ss6uyWW9Erg</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12pt; font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif">The event is
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free</a>; there is no registration fee to attend the Symposium.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Minion Pro",serif"><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"> </span></span>
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<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">Best regards,</span><span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt"><br>
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<span style="font-family:Calibri,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size:12pt">Gary Krupnick</span><br>
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<b><span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Gary Krupnick, Ph.D. (he/him/his)</span></b><span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Head of the Plant Conservation Unit</span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Department of Botany</span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif">w</span></b><span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> 202.633.0940
<span style="color:black"> <a href="mailto:krupnick@si.edu" data-auth="NotApplicable"><span>krupnick@si.edu</span></a></span></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:9pt; font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
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