Born in North Carolina and received her B.S. from University of Wisconsin-Madison.    In 1992, she volunteered her services to the University of Wisconsin system, and, over the next eleven years, first at UW-Madison and now at UW-Stevens Point, has created one of the most comprehensive state plant websites in the country.  She lives in the hill country west of Madison with her husband Joel and her interests include computers, amateur botany, restoring her own prairie, and canoeing the rivers of Wisconsin.