Dr. Martha Christensen was a professor of botany and a mycologist at the University of Wyoming. She joined the University of Wyoming in 1963 after receiving her Ph.D. in fungal ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Christensen was the first woman to join the UW Botany Department faculty, teaching mycology, dendrology, plant morphology, and general botany until retirement in 1989. In 1988 she was elected president of the Mycological Society of America. Other honors included “Woman of the Year” from the University of Wyoming Student Association (1971), the William A. Weston Award for Teaching Excellence from the Mycological Society of America (1991), and the Outstanding Former Faculty Award from the UW College of Arts and Sciences (1997). She became a world-renowned expert on penicillium and aspergillus, examining soil micro-fungi in different types of soils and in different kinds of plant communities, finding many new species. She also studied mycorrhizal fungi, the fungal diseases of honey bees and bats, microbial sources of ice nuclei in clouds, fungi as indicators of past environments, and the fungal component of soil crusts in deserts. Supported by numerous grants, she published over 60 research papers and served as a mentor for many graduate students. In 2013 she received the prestigious Johanna Westerdijk Award from the Westerdijk Fungal Biodiversity Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Christensen was also an avid outdoors person and took an active interest in protecting wild lands for future generations and the management of Wyoming public lands. She was a member and leader of numerous conservation organizations and projects, including the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the University of Wyoming, Biodiversity Institute.