Luke Tembrock was born in Delta, Colorado and grew up along the North Fork of the Gunnison where he first began to examine plants and nature on the family orchard west of Hotchkiss. After graduating Hotchkiss High School in 1997 Luke studied at Western State College (now Western Colorado University) in Gunnison, CO for two semesters before traveling and working in Western Europe for a year. Upon returning to the U.S. Luke worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife (now Colorado Parks and Wildlife) as a field technician around Durango, CO and then with the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs as a cadastral surveyor around Ignacio, CO. Luke completed his undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in geography with a minor in biology in 2005 from the University of Colorado, Boulder and then worked as a tropical horticulturist with the Denver Botanic Gardens until 2008. In 2015 Luke completed his doctoral degree in botany from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO where his work focused on the East African stimulant plant qat (Catha edulis, Celastraceae). From 2015 to the present Luke has worked as a research scientist in the department of Agricultural Biology at Colorado State University and in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Agriculture where he studies invasive insect species. Some examples of Luke’s work related to the flora of Colorado includes assisting with a floristic survey of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, rediscovery of the type location of Aliciella sedifolia (Polemoniaceae), and studying the genetics of relict aspen (Populus tremuloides, Salicaceae) stands from Texas to Montana with sampling in southern Colorado.