Jacobsen Named New Hunt Institute Director

T.D. Jacobsen has been appointed director and principal research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University’s Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, effective July 1.  He succeeds Robert Kiger, who is retiring after serving as director since 1977.

The Hunt Institute is a research division of CMU that specializes in the history of botany and all aspects of plant science.

Jacobsen joined the Hunt Institute staff in 1979 and has been assistant director since 1981. He is an authority on the systematics of the native North American species of the genus Allium (onions and their relatives) and his writings on the systematics and toxicology of poisonous plants have been published extensively. His research includes the neotypification (establishing a new type specimen) of several species of the genus Allium.

In addition to his research and administrative duties, Jacobsen, along with Kiger, has taught organismic botany in the Department of Biological Sciences.

Jacobsen earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of Idaho and a Ph.D. in plant systematics from Washington State University.