TD Faculty Mine Invasive Plant Species for Dye Stuffs

An esteemed faculty member of Textile Design, Becky Flax, has been working with an interdisciplinary group of students, scientists, and academics researching invasive plant species for commercial uses.

“Invasives are creating increasingly difficult problems across the United States,” says Anne Bower, PhD, professor of biology. “While there are some public and nonprofit efforts to address those problems, we also need to employ free market incentives to overcome this major ecological challenge.” Dr. Bower, Mary Ann Wagner-Graham, PhD, assistant professor of biology, and Becky Flax, MS assistant professor of textile design, have been working with an interdisciplinary group of undergraduate researchers to develop and demonstrate one such approach: using invasive plants to create natural, non-toxic, sustainable alternatives to synthetic dyes.

This work is the kind of impactful research that crosses disciplines, helps our environment, and provides real-world experience for the students involved. This is the kind of learning experience one can expect at our university. To read more about the work that Becky, Dr. Bower, and Mary Ann Wagner-Graham have been working on, follow this link Jefferson’s Research Magazine.

Republished from https://research.jefferson.edu/magazine/invasive-plants-for-commercial-use.html.