Leadership Circle
CTMS is currently a volunteer run, sociocratic-circle organization, with leadership circle of ~30 rotating members. We meet online and in-person once a month.
Apply by April 20, 2024
Leadership Circle members holding a “Chicken of the Woods” at the values / vision pot-luck.
PRIMARY Organizers
Angel with the an Eastern North American Destroying Angel or Amanita bisporigera
ANGEL SCHATz
Angel Schatz radiates passion for understanding the ecosystem of central Texas and making mycology education accessible to anyone who shares interest. She is also a member of leadership team of Austin Organic Gardeners; harmonizing vegetable gardening and mushroom growing, particularly by using recycled mushroom blocks. Formally an experience designer and animator in the tech world, she hopes to inspire more people dial into the wood-wide-web.
Angel leads the Education, Membership, and Communication Circle.
Chris with a Yellow Oyster, Pleurotus citrinopileatus.
Chris KENNEdy
Christopher Kennedy is the associate director at the Urban Systems Lab, The New School and lecturer in the Parsons School of Design. Kennedy’s research focuses on the social-ecological benefits of urban plant communities, multispecies thinking, and community-based approaches to environmental stewardship and environmental art.
Chris leads the prosper circle and the Healthy Soils, Healthy Trees program.
CHRIS GARZA
Chris Garza is an ecologist that is exceptionally passionate about plants, insects, fungi and the relationships between them. He is a Certified Ecologist, ISA Certified Arborist, Certified Ecological Restoration Practitioner in Training, and is part of the Board of Directors for the Travis Audubon Society. Between school and work, he has been involved in the Texas environmental realm for about 15 years.
Chris is a trustee, walk leader, and teaches ecology & fungi programs.
Angie with Cordyceps militaris
Angelica Torres
Angie is a mushroom farmer, and native, edible plant enthusiast. From 2013 to 2015 she studied to become a chef at Le Cordon Bleu in Los Angeles.
Angelica is a recent graduate of the Alamo Area Texas Master Naturalist Program and educator and volunteer for the Central Texas Mycological Society.
Angie leads the San Antonio hyphae and teaches Mycology 101, Cultivation, Walks, and Cooking.
Andrea Julian
Andrea is an ecologist, writer and passionate advocate for the natural world. She holds a BS in Biology and MS in Wildlife Ecology from Texas State University. Her interest in the relationships between urban landscapes and wildlife inspired her thesis work, an investigation of urban bird communities in central Texas. She is a member of the Capital Area Master Naturalists and continues to feed her bird obsession by leading bi-monthly bird walks at McKinney Falls State Park.
Andrea is in the communication circle and leads the week newsletter.
Liz Bowman
Currently, doing research and development of Fungi for biodegradation. As a researcher, I am a fungal and evolutionary ecologist interested in how abiotic and biotic factors can influence community assembly and emerging properties of fungal species and communities as a whole. Broadly, I am also interested in the development and maintenance of symbiotic interactions, specifically the immediate and long-term outcomes of symbiotic relationships (e.g. establishment of symbiosis and nature of symbiotic interaction).
Liz the leads the UT Fungarium program.
EDUCATOR CIRCLE
Andie Marsh, Ann Armstrong, Austin Davenport, Carter Humpreys, Cecilia Hogan, Cody Masters, Deena Spellman, Elise Dole, Gabe Miller, Hector Garcia, Jason Raiti, Jeremy Even Flint, Jessi Jordan, Jesus Garcia, Jonathan Erickson-Bruce, Joseph Emerson, Kim Nguyen, Mariana Villani, McKenzie Jones, Mason Lalley, Nick Steinhauser, Roxi Raine, Roxy Gonzalez, Sean "Peppy" Meyer, Shelia Prescott, Sonia Koschoreck, Ximena Curiel