ENBT/JBRJ Ph.D. student receives award from the Botanical Society of America

Phd student Valner Matheus, from the Graduate Program in Botany at the National School of Tropical Botany (ENBT/JBRJ), was one of the recipients of the 2026 Bill Dahl Graduate Student Research Award, presented by the Botanical Society of America.

The award supports botanical research projects conducted by graduate students and is granted based on scientific merit and the relevance of the proposals submitted. Valner Matheus’s project aims to investigate the diversity and species delimitation of the genus Machaerium Pers. (Leguminosae) in the Amazon, contributing to the understanding of its evolutionary history and the systematics of the group.

With the support of the award, visits will be made to important herbaria in the United States, including the United States National Herbarium, the New York Botanical Garden, and the herbaria at Harvard University, enabling the examination of collections relevant to the study.

The Botanical Society of America is one of the leading scientific societies in the field of botany, with an international presence in promoting research, training new scientists, and disseminating knowledge about plants.