Dr. Thomas Bultman of the Hope College biology faculty has been named to the Board of Advisors to the Editors of "New Phytologist," an international scholarly journal focused on plant science.

Established in 1902, "New Phytologist" offers publication of high-quality, original plant-science research within four sections:  physiology and development, environment, interaction and evolution.  The monthly journal is owned by the New Phytologist Trust, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to the promotion of plant science.

Bultman, who is a professor of biology and chairperson of the department, has been appointed to a three-year term that began earlier this month.  His responsibilities include reviewing research papers submitted to the journal's interaction section.

Bultman has been a member of the Hope faculty since 2001.  His research emphasis is on the ecology of plant-fungal-insect interactions.

His research program regularly involves Hope undergraduates, several of whom have been co-authors of scholarly articles about his work.  In recent years he has had articles in journals including "Oikos," "Ecology" and "Environmental Entomology" as well as "New Phytologist."  He has received external grants for his research from organizations including the National Science Foundation, the Pierce Cedar Creek Institute and the National Geographic Society.

Bultman graduated from Hope in 1978, and as a student himself had been involved in faculty-student collaborative research at the college, working with biologist Dr. Allen Brady on spider ecology.  He completed his master's degree at the University of Cincinnati in 1981 and his doctorate at Arizona State University in 1985.