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Adjunct Associate Professor in Plant Biology and Director of the
Carl W. Sharsmith Herbarium
Department of Biological Sciences
San José State University
Department of Biological Sciences
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0100
Duncan Hall, Room 354
Telephone:
207-801-5731
E-mail: Nishanta.Rajakaruna@sjsu.edu
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Education:
Ph.D. Botany, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 2002
M.S. Botany, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada 1998
B.A. Human Ecology, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine 1994
Professional Experience:
- Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, San José State University, San José, California 2010-current
- Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, San José State University, San José, California 2008-2010.
- Professor of Botany, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine 2004-2008; 2010-current
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California 2003-2004
Courses:
- Plant Biology (Biology 1).
My primary area of research focuses on the ecology, physiology and evolution of
plants growing on extreme soils such as those found on serpentine, limestone, dolomite,
and gypsum outcrops, salt and alkaline flats, guano deposits, and heavy metal rich
mine tailings.
I am also interested in the effects of heavy metal contamination on plants and other
biota, specifically research relating to metal transfer from contaminated soil via
plants to other biota. Related areas of research include 1) phytoremediation, the
use of plants to clean up metal-contaminated soil, and 2) the impacts of atmospheric
deposition of metals and nutrients on native plants.
Additional interests include tropical plant ecology & conservation and ethnobotany.
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