{"id":26399,"date":"2020-04-22T10:12:37","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T14:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sciencescosmaincms.cm.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=26399"},"modified":"2020-04-22T10:12:37","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T14:12:37","slug":"lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\/","title":{"rendered":"Lifelong Friendship With Arboretum Founder Inspires Donation"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Dr. Rani Vajravelu<\/p><\/div>\n

A passion for plants is at the root of a recent donation made by Biology faculty member Rani Vajravelu, Ph.D. The donation is made out to the UCF Arboretum in aim of supporting students that are passionate about outdoor plant studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love the money to help alleviate financial stress on students looking to pursue plant sciences so that they are able to focus on their studies,\u201c said Vajravelu. \u201cIt would be nice to see some of the lost trees replanted in the Arboretum areas, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"

Dr. Vajravelu and Dr. Hank Whittier<\/p><\/div>\n

Vajravelu points to her relationship with the late Hank Whittier, Ph.D., as an indirect source of inspiration in donating. The two met over 20 years ago, when Vajravelu first came to Orlando after her husband had landed a job on UCF faculty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first came to know Dr. Whittier as a student of his, I was interested in his passion for maintaining an Arboretum in a University that did not have a separate botany department. One of his goals was using the Arboretum as an outdoor teaching lab,\u201d said Vajravelu.<\/p>\n

Even though Vajravelu already possessed her doctorate degree in plant taxonomy, she was so drawn to the study of plants that she signed up to take Whittier\u2019s class titled \u201cLocal Flora.\u201d Neither knew that this was the beginning to a lifelong friendship in academia and in life.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Dr. Whitter realized I had my degree, we began to collaborate using our mutual knowledge,\u201d said Vajravelu. \u201cWe bounced ideas off each other and filled gaps of knowledge by working together. He was a great mentor as I pursued obtaining grants from the National Geographic Society and the Smithsonian Institution. I always felt respected and honored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Vajravelu has joined UCF as a teaching faculty in the Biology department and published works of botanical interest\u2014 one of which was a textbook on ethnobotany, a subject taught by Whittier until he retired from UCF. The proceeds from her books are the source of the donation funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so glad to do this,\u201d said Vajravelu. \u201cI hope the money goes to someone that helps foster the same passion for the Arboretum as Dr. Whittier had.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A passion for plants is at the root of a recent donation made by Biology faculty member Rani Vajravelu, Ph.D. The donation is made out to the UCF Arboretum in aim of supporting students that are passionate about outdoor plant studies. \u201cI would love the money to help alleviate financial stress on students looking to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":26400,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[33,34,38,39,13,5967,28,29],"tags":[2822],"class_list":["post-26399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arboretum","category-biology-departments","category-breaking-news","category-faculty-news","category-news","category-notables","category-top-news","category-ucf-news","tag-rani-vajravelu"],"yoast_head":"\nLifelong Friendship With Arboretum Founder Inspires Donation - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lifelong Friendship With Arboretum Founder Inspires Donation - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A passion for plants is at the root of a recent donation made by Biology faculty member Rani Vajravelu, Ph.D. The donation is made out to the UCF Arboretum in aim of supporting students that are passionate about outdoor plant studies. \u201cI would love the money to help alleviate financial stress on students looking to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-04-22T14:12:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/04\/Rani-1-resized-e1587564371223.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"882\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kyle Martin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\"},\"headline\":\"Lifelong Friendship With Arboretum Founder Inspires Donation\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-04-22T14:12:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":394,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2020\\\/04\\\/Rani-1-resized-e1587564371223.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Rani Vajravelu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arboretum\",\"Biology\",\"COS News\",\"Faculty News\",\"News\",\"Notables\",\"Top News\",\"UCF News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/lifelong-friendship-with-arboretum-founder-inspires-donation\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lifelong Friendship With Arboretum Founder Inspires Donation - 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