Autor: Sonia M. Tiquia-Arashiro

Sonia Tiquia-Arashiro is an Environmental Microbiologist and a Professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Her research focuses on microbial ecology, physiology and diversity, especially regarding the nitrogen cycle and biodegradation of environmental pollutants and the biotechnological applications of microorganisms. She served as Director the Master of Science in Environmental Science Program from 2011 to 2017 and currently serves as Chair of Microbiology at UM-Dearborn. She is the regional editor of the journal Environmental Technology and leads a large research laboratory with many undergraduate scholars. Martin Grube is a professor at the Institute of Biologie, Graz, Austria. He obtained his Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Graz in 1995 for his work on taxonomy of tropical lichens and lichen-inhabiting fungi. He pioneered molecular phylogenetics of lichens and also studied of algal selectivity in lichens symbioses. Later he focused on the diversity and roles of bacterial communities in lichen symbioses. His research interests also include diversity studies of rock-inhabiting extremotolerant fungi, biological soil crusts, plant-associated microbiomes, and slime molds.