A Short Vitae

Dr. Carmine COLACINO
Laboratorio di Briologia
Dipartimento di Biologia, Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro Forestali
Università della Basilicata
Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10 - 85100 POTENZA, Italy
Tel. +39-0971-20-6234; Fax: -6233; Lab.: 5346; Mobile: +39-329-3178399
E-mail: carmine [dot] colacino [at] unibas [dot] it
Alt. e-mail: colacino [at] bryology [dot] eu  or  bryology [at] gmail [dot] com

I got a degree  in Agricultural Sciences ("Laurea in Scienze Agrarie,"  equivalent to a US Master's degree) in 1983,  from the   University  "Federico II" of  Naples , southern Italy. 
From 1983  to 1986  I was a voluntary research assistant in the Department of General and Systematic Botany of the Faculty [School] of Agriculture of that University.

In 1986 I won a competition for a faculty position as a researcher in botany at the University of Basilicata, USB-PZ (Faculty [School] of Agriculture).  In 1991 I was confirmed (got tenure) as a researcher in Systematic Botany (this position, after confirmation, is comparable to that of a US Assistant professor).

In 1990 I won a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in the USA.  Since then I have been travelling back and forth from Italy to the USA, dividing my time between my studies and research in Biology at the Department of Biology of the  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-CH under the supervision of Mark Chase and Brent Mishler, and my teaching duties at USB-PZ

In 1992 (Feb.-Apr.) I took a series of graduate classes on "Theoretical and Experimental Aspects of Desert Ecology," at The Jacob Blaustein Institute for Desert Research of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, Israel. In 1993 I became a Ph.D. candidate at UNC-CH. The doctorate is under completion at the Faculty of Bioscience of the University of Helsinki, Finland.

In 2003 I took at the University of Palermo a course on "Introduzione alla Lichenologia ed alla Briologia (An Introductory Course to Lichenology and Bryology)", organized by the Italian Society of Lichenology and the Working Groups for Bryology and Lichenology of the Italian Botanical Society.

I have been a visiting scholar at UCB, Department of Integrative Biology, Bryology Lab, several times in the past years.  

I have been a Teaching Assistant at UNC for two semesters (for the "General Biology", and "Plants and Man" courses). I have taught courses in Botany (General, and Systematics) to first year-college students at USB-PZ since 1992. I have taught also Environmental and Forest Botany to 2nd years' students of Forestry, Plant Morphology and Botany to 1st year's students of Biotechnology, Botany to 3rd year students of Primary teacher education (Education Science), and Plant Physiology to post-graduate students.

In September 2004 I have organized at the Herbarium Lucanum a course of Alta Formazione (Higher Studies), open to graduate students and professionals in the relevant fields, named "Introduzione alla Lichenologia ed alla Briologia (An Introductory Course to Lichenology and Bryology)", 4 ECTS . In cooperation with the Italian Society of Lichenology and the Working Groups for Bryology and for Lichenology of the Italian Botanical Society. Several experts in the field have given their contribution (Prof. Domenico Ottonello - U. of Palermo; Prof. Michele Aleffi - U. of Camerino; Prof. Ruprecht Düll - Duisburg, Germany; Dr. Salvatore Cipollaro - U. of Basilicata; Dr Patrizia Campisi - U. of Palermo).

In July 2010 I have organized at USB-PZ the 7th Scientific Meeting of the Working Group for Bryology of the Italian Botanical Society, "Linee di ricerca nuove e classiche nella Briologia italiana (Classic and New Research Directions for Italian Bryology)" – Potenza, July 1st, 2010.

ECCB (European Committee for the Conservation of Bryophytes) country contact for Albania since March 2004.

Curatorial work and organization Herbarium Lucanum [HLUC] 1987-2006; curatorial work - bryological herbarium (Lab. of Bryology): 2006-present.

Evaluator (peer-reviewer) for the GNSF (Georgia National Science Fundation): 2008-current.

Referee for PRIN 2009 (Italian Ministry of Instruction, University and Research).

Peer reviewer for Cryptogamie-Bryologie (2008).

IAB (International Association of Bryologists): Country Contact for Albania and Italy.

Organization of the Darwin Day in Potenza in 2011 and 2012.

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Field activities

Several collecting campaigns (bryophyte collecting mainly) in Venezuela, Mexico, United States, Greece, Albania, and southern Italy.

My profile on Mendeley

Research Interests

See under "Laboratorio di Briologia". Other ongoing projects,  some of them in cooperation with colleagues at USB-PZ, include: Studies on the vascular and bryophytic flora and vegetation of Basilicata; a census of the Vascular Flora of Basilicat; studies on the effect of weak electric fields on plant growth, in cooperation with colleagues from my Institution and the University of Naples; studies on the vascular flora in archeological sites in cooperation with colleagues from the School of Archeology of Matera.

 D-FSM