Background & Research Interests: Giovanny is a Colombian orchidologist from Bogota. He has conducted extensive fieldwork throughout the Neotropics, and described several new species of orchid. His research is focused on taxonomy and systematics of the vanilloid genus Epistephium, which is a close relative to Vanilla – the only orchid of significant agricultural value. Giovanny’s research is supported by a NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant.
Dissertation: “Systematics and Biogeography of the tribe Vanilleae (Orchidaceae), and a monograph of the genus Epistephium”.