Alan Rockefeller grew up outside of Chicago, with an interest in electronics and computers at an early age. He moved to California and started his career as a white hat hacker for NASA in the early 2000s. Alan is now a mycologist specializing in DNA barcoding, field photography, and fungal microscopy. Committed to his cause, since 2001 Alan has photographed more than 3,000 species of fungi. To discover new fungi, and spark interest in the hearts and minds of those new to the field, Alan regularly leads forays all over North and South America, including Mexico where he studied the mushroom diversity for 16 years. 

Alan’s contributions to community science have been widespread. His dedication to teaching thousands of people over many years how to extract and amplify the DNA of their mushroom finds for sequencing is remarkable, and remains unparalleled. As of today, Alan has uploaded more than 800 fungal DNA sequences to Genbank, and he is a co-author on several scientific papers, including publications documenting new species of bioluminescent Mycena and Psilocybe. His work has been recognized by The Washington Post, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, Ars Technica, NPR, The Smithsonian, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsweek, VICE, Dallas Observer, Arizona Daily Sun, Chicago Reporter, Smoky Mountain News, Benzinga, Ancient Origins, The Union of Grass Valley, KCRG, Filter, Yahoo Finance, East Bay Express, Boulder Weekly, The Verge, Mother Nature Network, Social News Daily, International Business Times, iNews, CBC Radio, TreeHugger and Interesting Engineering.

Alan’s favorite things are microscopy and teaching people mushroom photography. He is also devoted to the art of macroscopic mushroom identification and legitimately spends hours each day identifying mushrooms for the general public. Amazingly, he has identified over 300,000 fungi on websites like iNaturalist, Mushroom Observer, and various Facebook Groups. Nothing short of a powerhouse, Alan Rockefeller is an authority on the leading edge of mycology, who is beloved by his community for the knowledge and value he contributes to the field.

Mandie Quark grew up in a quaint town in northeast Maryland. She walked barefoot to receive her Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. Mary’s Honors College in southern Maryland in 2007. She then moved north and earned her Master’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in 2014. Mandie's career started at the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research, a biomedical center of excellence at one of America’s 50 Best Hospitals, where she worked as a drug discovery scientist for eleven years. In 2018, she left to focus on research and communications while starting field work. 

Today, molecular mycologist and science writer by training, Mandie Quark is a researcher with a passion for the advancement of community mycology. Now with over a decade of experience studying, professionally photographing, and communicating about fungi to the public, Mandie has edited books and spoken at mycology events across the world. In 2023 she co-founded Mycena LLC, and in 2024 her work was featured in the Guardian and the New York Times. 

Mandie currently lives and works part-time in the California Bay Area while organizing international mycology events throughout the year in places like Ecuador, Colombia, and Costa Rica. In both of her jobs, as the CA Community Science Director at Mycota Lab and Senior Researcher at the Ohio Mushroom DNA Lab, she is dedicated to building and empowering networks of community mycologists to document fungal diversity. Mandie continues to deliver enthralling presentations that simplify complex topics such as DNA barcoding, while showcasing her photography and research in mycology. Behind the scenes, Mandie contributes to Mycena as a creator, designer, web builder, and brand ambassador. Her favorite work entails finding and documenting rare fungi through field photography in biodiversity hotspots around the world.