FES courtesy faculty Jim Trappe, who has been studying Australia’s amazing diversity of native truffle species every year since 1986 by invitation from the Australian Government, was honored on July 21 with an Honorary Life Membership in the Australian Truffle Growers Association. The award cited “for his valued ongoing scientific support to the industry with production issues, truffle species identification, native truffles in the environment and extensive contact with the global mycology fraternity.” Jim and his collaborators, including Mike Castellano, Efren Cazares, Ari Jumpponen, and Australians Andrew Claridge who spent a year with Jim as a postdoctoral Fulbright Scholar and Teresa Lebel, Jim’s Ph.D. student, have accumulated nearly 18,000 collections of Australian truffles. These include an estimated 10 families, 50 genera, and 500+ species new to science.