Educational Background 
In 1974 Dr. Musselman graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill  with a Ph.D. in Botany. Previously he earned a M.S. in Botany in 1968 from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts in biology, had been acquired in 1965 from Beloit College.

Professional History
Dr. Musselman’s fascination with plants, especially their diversity of form and function, has demanded that much of his research time be spent in the field. Three groups have been his chief research interest for the past three decades: witchweeds (genus Striga), broomrapes (genus Orobanche), dodders (genus Cuscuta), and the family Hydnoraceae.

More recently he has been working on plants of the Bible and other aspects of Middle East and Western Asia ethnobotany (including plants of the Qu'ran). For this research he has lived and worked in several Middle Eastern countries. 

Dr. Musselman’s specific research interests are:

• Taxonomy, ecology, evolution and control of parasitic weeds, especially Striga in the African Sahel and Orobanche and Cuscuta in the Middle East. 

• Systematics and ecology of quillworts (Isoetes, Pteridophyta) in the southern United States.

• Plants of the Bible.

• Santalaceae and Olacaceae of North America.

• Ecology and systematics of the Hydnoraceae.

• Floristics of Jordan and Syria.

• Ecology of Sphagnum in southeast Virginia.

• The relationship between faculty research and undergraduate learning.

Dr. Musselman devotes a considerable amount of his time to the print media remaining a contributor or editorial advisor to the following scientific journals: 

• American Fern Journal

• American Journal of Botany

• Botanical Bulletin of Academica Sinica

• Castanea

• Economic Botany

• Israel Journal of Botany

• Novon

• Plant Disease

• Plant Science Bulletin

• Perspectives in Science and Faith

• Weed Science Society of America

A list of referred papers, reviews and monographs, and edited volumes/proceedings of symposia and workshops can be found at:     http://www.odu.edu/webroot/instr/sci/lmusselman.nsf/pages/home

In addition to scores of popular and scientific articles, Dr, Musselman has published the following books:

1. Jordan in Bloom. Wildflowers of the Holy Land. Original watercolors by Dasha Fomicheva, artist to the Royal Hashemite Court. Under the Patronage of HM Rania Al Abdullah, Queen of Jordan. Jordan River Foundation; Amman, Jordan. 112 pp., 2000.

2. Van U is ook de Aarde. De zwijgende maar machtige boodschap von planten in het heligdom. [Yours (is) also the Earth. The silent yet powerful language of plants in the sanctuary.] (With H.P. Medema), Uitgiverij Medema: Vaassen, Netherlands, 48 pp., 1993. Illustrated. (In Dutch).

3. Laat de Aarde het u Vertellen. De zwijgende maar machtige boodschap von planten in het land van de Bijbel. [The Earth Shall Teach You: The silent yet powerful language of plants in the land of the Bible.] (With H. P. Medema), Uitgiverij Medema: Vaassen, Netherlands, 64 pp., 1993. Illustrated. (In Dutch).

President, Phi Kappa Phi Chapter 200 1998-99
Faculty Advisor, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
Faculty Advisor, International Christian Student Fellowship
Faculty Advisor, Chi Alpha
Faculty Advisor, Campus Impact
Member, Faculty Senate Committee G
Member, College of Sciences Promotion and Tenure Committee
Member, University Promotion and Tenure Committee

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Fern Society
American Scientific Affiliation
Association of Southeastern Biologists
Botanical Society of America
International Parasitic Seed Plant Research Group (Secretary)
Phi Kappa Phi (President, ODU Chapter 1998-1999)
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (Jordan)
Society of Economic Botany

• Honorary Member, The International Parasitic Plant Society, Nantes, France June 2001

• Partnership Award, Virginia Chapter, The Nature Conservancy, 1999 (Awarded to Blackwater

• Ecologic Preserve Management Committee)

• Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, 1988.

• Fulbright awards, 1982-84; 1986-87; 1997-98.

• Faculty Research Award, Old Dominion University, 1986.

• Elected Fellow of the Linnean Society of London, 1972.

American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Fern Society
American Scientific Affiliation
Association of Southeastern Biologists
Botanical Society of America
International Parasitic Seed Plant Research Group (Secretary)
Phi Kappa Phi (President, ODU Chapter 1998-1999)
Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (Jordan)
Society of Economic Botany

Countries Visited For Scientific Collaboration

Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea-Conakry, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Namibia, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Russia, St Lucia, St Vincent, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, West Bank, Western Europe (most countries), and Zimbabwe.

• April 2001. Jordan River Foundation, Le Meridien, Amman, Jordan. Earth Day Lecture.

• April 2001. American Embassy, American Center, Damascus, Syria. “Fire Ecology”.

• September 2000. Department of Biology, University of Namibia, Windhoek. “Parasitic plants in world agriculture”

• August 2000. Summer in Syria Program, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria. “Christianity in the Arab world.”

• August 2000. Jordan Evangelical Theological Seminary. “Holy Pharmacy–Modern Medicinal Plants of the Qu’ran and the Bible.”

• July 2000. American Embassy, American Center, Damascus, Syria. “Holy Pharmacy–Modern Medicinal Plants of the Qu’ran and the Bible.”

• July 2000. Department of Botany, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria. “Parasitic plants in world agriculture.”

• June 2000. Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, Amman, Jordan. “The Strangest Plant in the world.”

• March 2000. Quillwort Conference 2000, South Georgia College. "A Unique Isoetes from Syria.”

• February 2000. American Embassy, American Center, Damascus, Syria. “Holy Botany–Plants of the Qu’ran and the Bible.”

A more detailed C.V. can be found at: http://www.odu.edu/webroot/instr/sci/lmusselman.nsf/pages/home

Dr. Musselman’s web site is: http://web.odu.edu/lmusselman

Dr. Musselman also has a Bible plants web site: http://www.odu.edu/webroot/instr/sci/plant.nsf/pages/bible

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