Mesfin Tadesse, curator of vascular plants at the Museum of Biological Diversity, recently returned from a trip to Ethiopia, where he was honored with an award for his contributions to botany education and research. Prior to joining Ohio State, Tadesse served at Addis Ababa University (AAU) as an associate professor and director of the National Herbarium. In April, he returned to AAU as an external examiner for two PhD candidates in botanical-ecological research and to be part of a memorial ceremony celebrating 50 years of botanical research in the country. He visited the Gullele Botanic Garden in Addis Ababa to provide training to staff on identification of Asteraceae (the sunflower family), which is Mesfin’s research focus. Mesfin also wrote one of the eight volumes on vascular plants for the Ethiopean Flora Project and served as the project's associate leader and on its editorial board. He edited a number of volumes of the Flora of Ethiopia and Eritrea as well as contributed to popular science books on the botany of Ethiopia, including the newly published Ethiopia - Home of Arabica Coffee.