In Memoriam: Elizabeth N. Feliciano

Elizabeth Noemi Feliciano (Liz or E), 32, a member of MSA student section and secretary of the DEI committee passed away in June 2022. Elizabeth grew up in Gary, Indiana. As an undergraduate she attended Indiana University Bloomington and graduated in 2013 with a double-major in Biology and East Asian Languages, including a concentration in Mandarin Chinese. She became fluent in Mandarin and spent one year in Kunming, China, where she worked as an environmental and health research organization. After traveling in Asia, Elizabeth returned to the United States where she worked for one year in the pharmaceutical industry and another year as an instructor in English for foreign students at the Massachusetts International Academy.

In 2017, Elizabeth was considering her career path and academic interests when she met mycologist Dr. Pete Avis at Indiana University Northwest. Dr. Avis encouraged Elizabeth´s interests in mycology and in 2017 she began to work in the Avis lab at IU where she focused on the systematics of the genus Russula. She became fascinated by the extensive diversity in the genus and was inspired to embark on a career in mycology. In 2018 Elizabeth moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where she began her M.S. degree in fungal biology in the laboratory of Tim James at the University of Michigan.  At UM Elizabeth explored the specificity of interactions between species of Russula and their Hypomyces parasites but also worked on the systematics of the chytrid genus Allomyces. In 2020, Elizabeth completed her MS degree and moved to Gainesville, Florida where she began her Ph.D. at the University of Florida in Matthew Smith´s lab. She began working on the systematics of the truffle genus Genea and presented the first preliminary phylogeny of the genus from North America at the 2021 Mycological Society of America meeting (“Phylogeny and Taxonomy of Genea from North America”). In spring 2022 she had completed all of the coursework for her Ph.D. and was preparing for her examination in order to advance to candidacy.

Elizabeth received awards from every institution she attended. These included an outstanding GPA scholarship (University of Indiana Bloomington), two teaching excellence awards (University of Michigan), and a graduate school preeminence award (University of Florida). She also received a Federal Academic Competitiveness Scholarship (US Government) and an Outstanding Service and Leadership Award (from the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee of the MSA). Growing up in Gary, Elizabeth saw firsthand the significant barriers that exist for many students to participate in science, particularly students whose parents did not attend college or whose families lack financial resources. She was passionate about making academia and science open to diverse groups of people, especially those from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds. In addition to her active involvement with the MSA’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, she also participated in the University of Florida’s PODEMOS program, a mentoring program created specifically to help Latinx & Hispanic Undergraduate students succeed in their academic careers.