/ Pamela Ronald Content for 51�ԹϺ��� Davis en /news/among-academies-pamela-ronald <p><span lang="EN">It’s fitting that Pamela Ronald, who would go on to be named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in biotechnology by </span><em><span lang="EN">Scientific American</span></em><span lang="EN">, discovered her passion for plant biology while on a backpack trip near Lake Tahoe.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span lang="EN">“I was 14 and met botanists when I was out hiking,” Ronald recalled. “I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They said: ‘Oh, this is our job. We identify plants and we hike in the mountains.’”&nbsp;</span></p> May 19, 2026 - 8:09am Jose Antonio Vadi /news/among-academies-pamela-ronald