Dr. Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian is the author of Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature (Spiegel & Grau). She is the Curator of Mycology at the New York State Museum, as well as faculty with the Bard Prison Initiative. Her research focuses on fungal taxonomy, diversity, evolution, symbiosis, and ecology, particularly of the less studied fungal groups, such as the insect-associated Laboulbeniales. Patricia is a co-founder of the International Congress of Armenian Mycologists, which seeks to jointly protect Armenian sovereignty and biodiversity. She also studies philosophy of science, queer ecology, and queer theory, exploring how mycology and other scientific disciplines are situated in and informed by our sociopolitical landscape. Her work, The science underground: mycology as a queer discipline, bridged the relationship between queerness and mycology.