Jennifer Ackerfield is the Director of the Charles Maurer Herbarium and Assistant Professor of Botany at Colorado State University. There, she teaches Plant Identification, Plant Systematics, and co-teaches Dendrology. She also coordinates the growth and improvement of the herbarium collections, directs biodiversity research efforts, and manages herbarium staff, students and volunteers working with the collections. Throughout her career, Jennifer has traveled extensively throughout Colorado documenting its rich floristic diversity. This knowledge led her to write the Flora of Colorado, with the goal of helping anyone identify the plants of Colorado with ease and confidence. Jennifer also leads a research program focused on documentation of biodiversity through targeted floristic inventories, systematics and taxonomy of western North American groups such as native thistles (Cirsium) and unraveling the origins of plant diversity in the Southern Rocky Mountains through biogeographic studies. Jennifer regularly collaborates with organizations and agencies across the state, leads field trips and workshops, and initiates community participatory science campaigns. She also loves teaching and sharing her passion for botany with students of all ages.