Collections Manager
Gantz Family Collections Center
Todd grew up in rural Nebraska where he developed an early interest in science and nature, going on hikes in the flood plain forests along the Platte River.
During his undergraduate degree, he worked as a biological technician in the Nebraska Sand Hills and the Iowa Loess Hills. But near the end of the program, Todd became especially interested in lichens.
After studying at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (M.S.) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (Ph.D.), he became a Collections Manager at the Field Museum. As a collections manager, Todd enjoys delving into different projects every day. Most important is the management of the Fungal Herbarium where he leads a team that helps with the digitization of specimens. He also conducts fieldwork bringing in new specimens from all over the world and research on lichens involving next-generation sequencing.