Barry Shelp completed BSc. and MSc. degrees in Biological Sciences at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada, a PhD in Biology at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, and post-doctoral stints at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia and at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He began his academic career in the Department of Horticultural Sciences (later merged with Crop Science to form the Department of Plant Agriculture) at the University of Guelph, Canada in 1984 and officially retired in 2016. He is currently Professor Emeritus/Adjunct Professor. Barry served as Associate Editor for the Canadian Journal of Plant Science (1994-97), Associate Editor of Botany (formerly the Canadian Journal of Botany) (1998-2001), Co-Editor of Botany (2004-11). He has also served as a member of the editorial boards for the Journal of Experimental Botany (2000-12) and Plants (2020-present). Dr. Shelp is the author or co-author of 166 refereed publications and four book chapters that have been cited in excess of 12,000 times. Dr. Shelp received the Alumni-of-Distinction Award (2012) from Brock University and the Gold Medal (2015) for outstanding published contributions or distinguished service to plant biology, primarily in Canada, from the Canadian Society of Plant Biologists.