| Title | Professor |
|---|---|
| Department | Biology |
| Office | Meier Hall 247 |
| Phone | 978.542.6532 |
| lisa.delissio@salemstate.edu |
| BIO 118H | Honors Biology: Explorations in Botany |
|---|---|
| BIO 208 | Environmental Problems: An Ecological Approach |
| BIO 218 | Ecology & the Environment |
| BIO 300 | Botany |
| BIO 301 | Conservation Biology |
| BIO 407 | Directed Study in Biology |
| BIO 408 | Research in Biology |
| BIO 416 | Biology Internship |
Dr. Delissio received her B.S. in Biology from Tufts University. She then worked as a laboratory technician at M.I.T. where the C. elegans DNA she sequenced contributed to Nobel Prize-winning work on programmed cell death. She went on to complete her Ph.D. in Biology at Boston University where she studied tropical forest ecology in Malaysian Borneo with Richard Primack, one of the world's leading Conservation Biologists. She is a tenured Professor of Biology, and in this role conducts research on the hidden science and lives of historical women botanists. She also leads the scientific research on the F. Carroll Sargent Arboretum at Greenlawn Cememtery. Dr. Delissio serves as a consultant to screenwriters through the Science & Entertainment Exchange of the National Academy of Sciences.
Botanical gardens and arboreta; Hidden science and historical scientists; Plant ecology and conservation
Professor of Biology
Delissio, L. and Hall, L. 2023. Charlotte Nichols Saunders Horner, trailblazing botanist. ResearchGate. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11078.24643
MEDIA COVERAGE
Greenwood, V. 2023. Resurrecting the lost arboretum of Salem. Ideas, Boston Sunday Globe. December 24. Web edition December 18. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/18/opinion/greenlawn-cemetery-salem/
Waller, A. 2020. U.S. identifies some of the mysterious seeds mailed from China. New York Times. August 2. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/02/us/Seed-packets-China-USA.html
Howard, N. 2020. Historical lady botanists, their Herbaria, and climate change. Ipswich Garden Club Newsletter. Winter. Ipswich Garden Club, Ipswich.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x3qBeHFwduOzIwClmfSJQe4h9-t8qGk1/view
Delissio, L. 2024. Transatlantic case studies panel: Recovering voices from the archives. Transatlantic botanical thought: the posthumous influence on European Science of American women botanists through their archival plant specimens. The Transatlantic Studies Association 22nd Annual Conference, Lancaster University, Lancaster, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
Delissio, L. 2024. The life and work of hidden nineteenth century New England botanist, Charlotte Nichols Saunders Horner. Invited speaker, Collections and Culture Research Theme. Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.
Delissio, L. 2025. The F. Carroll Sargent Arboretum at Greenlawn Cemetery: from oral histories to cutting-edge science. Explorers Lifelong Learning Institute. Salem, MA.
Delissio, L. 2025. Rediscovery of three nineteenth century New England Botanists. Book of Nature, Nature of Books: Practices of Female Botanists International Conference. Université Bourgogne Europe, Dijon, France.
Delissio, L. 2025. Contribution and erasure of nineteenth century New England botanist and natural historian, Harriet Eliza Paine. Invited speaker, Collections and Culture Research Theme. Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom.