Patricia Gabbey Gensel (born March 18, 1944) is an American botanist and paleobotanist. Life Gensel was born in Buffalo, New York, and attended Hope College in Holland, Michigan, earning a B.A. in 1966. She obtained her Ph.D. in 1972 from the University of Connecticut. As of 2011, Gensel was on the faculty of the Biology Department of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gensel is noted for her research on Paleozoic plants. She served as president of the Botanical Society of America for 2000–2001. Gensel is the namesake of the genus, Genselia Knaus, which consists of four species of early Carboniferous plants found in the Pocono and Price Formations in the Appalachian Basin of North America. Publications References American paleontologists Paleobotanists 1944 births Living people American women botanists Women paleontologists Botanical Society of America Botanists with author abbreviations University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty Hope College alumni University of Connecticut alumni Scientists from Buffalo, New York 20th-century American botanists 21st-century American botanists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists American women academics