Lawrence Memorial Award
The Lawrence Memorial Award commemorated the life and achievements of Dr. George H. M. Lawrence (1910–1978), founding director of Hunt Institute (1960–1970). From its inception in 1979 to its ending in 2020, the annual (semiannual from 1988 to 2000) award in the amount of $2,000 aided 27 outstanding doctoral candidates with travel costs in support of dissertation research in systematic botany or horticulture or the history of the plant sciences, including literature and exploration. The Lawrence Memorial Fund Award Committee, which included representatives from Hunt Institute, The Hunt Foundation, the Lawrence family and the botanical community, selected recipients from candidates nominated by their major professors. The award was presented at the annual banquet of the Botanical Society of America.
Lawrence Memorial Award Recipients, 1979–2019
When choosing a recipient, the award committee evaluated a candidate's general scholarly promise and the significance of the research proposed. As evidenced by the achievements of the recipients, the award committee has made some excellent choices over the years.
Michael J. Balick (1979)
Ph.D., Harvard University, 1980
Director and Philecology Curator, Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Garden
James M. Affolter (1980)
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1983
Director of Research, The State Botanical Garden of Georgia; Professor, Department of Horticulture, University of Georgia
Janet R. Sullivan (1982)
Ph.D., University of Oklahoma, 1984
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences and Collection Manager, Hodgdon Herbarium, University of New Hampshire
Raymond B. Cranfill (1983)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2001
Mark W. Chase (1984)
Ph.D., University of Michigan, 1985
Director, Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
George E. Schatz (1985)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1987
Curator, Africa and Madagascar Department, Missouri Botanical Garden; Adjunct Professor, University of Missouri, St. Louis
Andrew J. Henderson (1986)
Ph.D., City University of New York, 1987
Curator, Institute of Systematic Botany, New York Botanical Garden
John V. Freudenstein (1987)
Ph.D., Cornell University, 1992
Director, Herbarium
, Museum of Biological Diversity, Ohio State University
Clayton J. Antieau (1988)
Ph.D., University of Washington, 1987
Senior Wetland Ecologist and Botanist, Washington State Department of Transportation
Chester E. Wilson (1990)
Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1992
Professor, Biochemistry Department, University of St. Thomas, Minnesota
J. Travis Columbus (1992)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1996
Research Scientist, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California and Professor of Botany, Claremont Graduate University
Kathleen M. Pryer (1994)
Ph.D., Duke University, 1995
Professor, Biology Department, Duke University
Amy J. Litt (1996)
Ph.D., City University of New York, 1999
J. Chris Pires (1998)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2000
Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia
Anne Katherine Hansen (2000)
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, 2004
Andrew L. Hipp (2002)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin—Madison, 2004
Plant Systematist & Herbarium Curator, Morton Arboretum
Sarah E. Edwards (2003)
Ph.D., University of London, 2006
Data Services Officer: Medicinal Plant Names Services, Biodiversity Informatics and Spatial Analysis, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
Danica T. Harbaugh (2004)
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 2007
Research Scientist, University and Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley
Ricarda Riina (2005)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin—Madison, 2006
Researcher, Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
Eric Schuettpelz (2006)
Ph.D., Duke University, 2007
Research Botanist & Assistant Curator, Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Jimmy Triplett (2007)
Ph.D., Iowa State University, 2008
Assistant Professor and Herbarium Curator, Department of Biology, Jacksonville State University
Dylan O. Burge (2008)
Ph.D., Duke University, 2011
The Lawrence Award was not presented in 2009.
Christine D. Bacon (2010)
Ph.D., Colorado State University
, 2011
Postdoctoral researcher, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Brian Sidoti (2011)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 2015
Adjunct Professor, Natural Sciences, State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota
The Lawrence Award was not presented in 2012.
Aleksandar Radosavljevic (2013)
Ph.D., Northwestern University
The Lawrence Award was not presented in 2014.
Keir Wefferling (2015)
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, 2018
Postdoctoral researcher, University of California, Berkeley
Andre Hahn (2016)
Ph.D., Oregon State University, 2018
The Lawrence Award was not presented in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Other resources
For information about portraits of and biographical citations for the Lawrence Award recipients, see the Hunt Institute Archives Register of Botanical Biography and Iconography database.
George Hill Mathewson Lawrence (1910–1978), Rare Book Gallery of the Hunt Botanical Library (now Reading Room of the Hunt Institute), ca.1960–ca.1967, 25 × 20 cm, photograph by the Public Relations Office of Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University), HI Archives portrait no. 8.
