Michael Homoya earned B.A. and M.S. degrees in botany at Southern Illinois University – Carbondale after which he taught science at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota and biology at Southwestern Community College in North Carolina. For 37 years he served as Botanist/Plant Ecologist for the Indiana Department of Natural Resources before retiring in 2019. Homoya is a Fellow and former president of the Indiana Academy of Science and the Indiana Native Plant Society. His previous books include Orchids of Indiana, Wildflowers and Ferns of Indiana Forests: A Field Guide, Wake Up, Woods (a children’s book) and Wildflowers of the Midwest (co-authored with Scott Namestnik). He was awarded the Distinguished Career Public Service Award from the Conservation Law Center, the Distinguished Scholar of the Year from the Indiana Academy of Science, and the Barbara J. Restle Lifetime Conservation Award from Sycamore Land Trust.