Barbara Ambrose is a botanist working in the field of Plant Evolutionary Developmental Biology (Evo-Devo). As the Director of Laboratory Research at the New York Botanical Garden, Ambrose is a prolific scholar and leader and mentor in her field who is interested in patterns in plant diversity on macro and micro scales. Education Ambrose earned a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of California, San Diego in June 2000, starting her career as a developmental geneticist working on maize (Zea mays) flowers. She also holds a B.Sc. in Biology from University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas which she earned in 1994. One of Ambrose's Ph.D. articles Molecular and genetic analyses of the Silky1 gene reveal conservation in floral organ specification between eudicots and monocots, published in Molecular Cell was one of the first Plant Evo-Devo papers, and has been cited nearly 500 times, as per Google Scholar metrics. Career National Autonomous University of Mexico Ambrose began her career first as a National Science Foundation International Postdoctoral fellow (2000-2002) and then as a Postdoctoral Fellow (2002–2003) at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico. During this time, her work was also focused on floral evo-devo in Lacandonia schismatica, a monocot with inside-out flowers. Massey University Ambrose was next a Lecturer in the Institute of Molecular BioScience (IMBS) at Massey University in New Zealand from October 2003 until August 2008, where here research focused on the control of plant development at the molecular level, including Evo-Devo research related to fruit. At Massey, Ambrose was involved in the planning of the Manawatu Microscopy & Imaging Centre (MMIC). She also developed a course in Plant Development and worked on a project with Plant Biology and Massey gardening staff to label plants in the living collection, making this collection more accessible. City University of New York Since 2008, Ambrose has been an Adjunct Professor for the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY) in the Plant Science subprogram where she has taught courses on Plant Development and Comparative Morphology of Vascular Plants. New York Botanical Garden Ambrose has worked at the New York Botanical Garden since 2008. Hired as an Assistant Curator in the Plant Genomics department in 2008, she was promoted to Associate Curator in 2014. In 2017, Ambrose was named Director of Laboratory Research. Ambrose's research interest is in Plant Evolutionary Developmental Genomics with research foci in Evolution as