Emma Neigel has recently been named the Director of Science and Conservation at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia. In this role, Neigel will lead the conservation department by setting strategic priorities, guiding research and conservation initiatives, securing funding, managing staff and collaborating with partners.
As part of this position, Neigel will also teach conservation horticulture courses in the Department of Horticulture at UGA. She will begin the Public Service and Outreach faculty position on April 6, 2026.
Neigel recently completed a PhD in biosystems and biodiversity, majoring in ecology, at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Her doctoral research focused on conservation translocations and establishing new populations of rare plants in the Carolinian forests of Southern Ontario.
Growing up, Neigel’s love for plants first took root while gardening alongside her mother. Her passion for plants and talent for running took her to Mississippi State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in horticulture and competed in track and field.
During her undergraduate studies, she expanded her horticultural expertise through internships at Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia, and the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.
Neigel also completed a Master of Science in horticulture at Mississippi State, where her thesis focused on mapping butterfly milkweed habitat using geospatial software (GIS). After graduating, she joined the conservation team at the Atlanta Botanical Garden as the safeguarding nursery coordinator and conservation horticulturist in Gainesville, Georgia. She developed a passion for rare plant conservation through her work with the Georgia Plant Conservation Alliance, which is headquartered at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia.
