Paula DePriest is an American lichenologist and specialist in artefact conservation. She has been curator of the lichen collection at the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

, USA and Deputy Director of the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute.

Early life and education

Paula Teresa DePriest studied at

Union University Union University is a private Baptist university in Jackson, Tennessee, with additional campuses in Germantown and Hendersonville. The university is affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). It was estab ...

, completing her bachelor's degree in 1978 and then moved to the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

for a Master's degree in botany in 1983. She undertook doctoral research at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and was awarded PhD in 1992.

Career

She initially worked at the

in Washington, USA and was appointed the curator of the lichen collection. Later in her career she was scientific advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian Institution and then Deputy Director of the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute. She has also held posts as adjunct professor at Duke University (1997-2004) and

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

(1998-2004). Her research focuses on

lichen A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...

s, particularly the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

and cultural relationships of those used as forage in

reindeer herding Reindeer herding is when reindeer are herded by people in a limited area. Currently, reindeer are the only semi-domesticated animal which naturally belong to the North. Reindeer herding is conducted in nine countries: Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russ ...

regions of Mongolia, the

Cladoniaceae The Cladoniaceae are a family of lichen-forming fungi in the order Lecanorales, comprising about 560 species distributed amongst 18 genera. This family is one of the largest among lichen-forming fungi and is globally distributed, from Arctic t ...

. She also studies the deterioration of outdoor sculpture and monuments that can be caused by fungi and lichens and has worked in a project about

deer stone Deer stones (), sometimes called the Deer stone-khirigsuur complex (DSKC), in reference to neighbouring khirigsuur tombs, are ancient megaliths carved with symbols found mainly in Mongolia and, to a lesser extent, in the adjacent areas in Siber ...

s in collaboration with the

Mongolian Academy of Sciences The Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS; , ''Mongol ulsyn Shinjlekh ukhaany Akademi'') is Mongolia's first centre of modern sciences. It came into being in 1921 when the government of newly independent Mongolia issued a resolution declaring the e ...

. Her work has identified or clarified the status of several lichens, including ''Flavoparmelia leucoxantha'', ''Hypotrachyna quaesita'', ''Punctelia dictyoidea'' and ''Punctelia roystoneae''.

Publications

DePriest is the author or co-author of over 90 scientific publications and book chapters. The most significant include: * Weaver, Jamie L., DePriest, Paula T., Plymale, Andrew E., Pearce, Carolyn I., Arey, Bruce, and Koestler, Robert J. 2021
Microbial interactions with silicate glasses
''npj Materials Degradation'' 5:Article 11. * DePriest, Paula T., Fitxzhugh, William W., Beaubien, Harriet F., and Bayarsaikhan, Jamsranjav. 2014. Research and Preservation of Mongolia's Cultural Heritage. ''Arctic Studies Center Newsletter'' (21): 14-17. * Solazzo, Caroline, Heald, Susan, Ballard, Mary W., Ashford, David A., DePriest, Paula T., Koestler, Robert J., and Collins, Matthew. 2011
Proteomics and Coast Salish blankets: a tale of shaggy dogs?
''Antiquity'' 85:1418-1432. * Ahti, T. & DePriest, P.T. 2001. New combinations of Cladina epithets in Cladonia (Ascomycotina: Parmeliaceae). ''Mycotaxon'' 78:499–502.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DePriest, Paula 1957 births American lichenologists Duke University alumni Smithsonian Institution people American mycologists Living people Women lichenologists Women mycologists