John Benedict

John was a postdoc in the Smith Lab for two years, and continues to be part of PEPPR (Plant Evolution, Paleobotany, and Paleoecology Research Lab) in his “spare time.” He is helping to decipher the evolutionary history of the gingers, bananas, and relatives – the order Zingiberales, as well as leading his own projects on various plants including the fossil record of Alnus (alders) and the diversity of the Miocene Shimokawa Chert from Japan. John earned a B.S. and Ph.D. in Plant Biology from Arizona State University, and spent a year as an adjunct faculty member at University of Guam, before coming to UM.