Fungi are familiar to most of us. Mushrooms pop up in our yards after a rainstorm. Yeast brew our beer. Maybe you’ve foraged for morels or picked up a sourdough hobby. If you think you know fungi, though, think again! Just this summer a team of U-M researchers discovered an entire world of fungi thriving nearly a third of a mile underground, including 13 new species that have never been described before.

Fungi have conquered some truly unexpected environments, from freshwater ecosystems to deep in the Earth's crust. Join Ecology & Evolutionary Biology PhD Candidate Quinn Moon and Dr. Tim James, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Professor and Curator of Fungi at the U-M Herbarium as we venture into the fungal frontier. Discover how these remarkable organisms survive and thrive, and consider what fungi can teach us about the limits of life on Earth.

Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 5:30 p.m., and the program begins at 6:00 p.m. Seating is limited—please come early. Free and open to the public.