Anibal de Carvalho Junior holds an undergraduate degree in biology from Universidade São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo, SP, Brazil (1989). His Ph.D. in Agronomy (Agriculture) is from the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, SP, Brazil (2001). He has conducted postdoctoral work at the Biological Institute of São Paulo. He began working at RB herbarium, Instituto de Pesquisa Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (IPJBRJ), in 2002. Early in his career, he worked as a laboratory technician at the Victoria Rossetti Fungarium (IBI) in the Biological Institute of São Paulo. He has published numerous scientific articles and books, mainly focused on rust fungi (Pucciniales, Uredinales). His current research interests include Basidiomycetes (Pucciniales), phytopathology, herbaria (collection management), and biodiversity of the Cerrado and Atlantic forests.

Joe F. Hennen received his B.S. at Southern Methodist University. He holds an M.S. (1952) and Ph.D. (1954) from Purdue University. From 1954 to 1958 he was plant pathologist of cereal crops at South Dakota State University. From 1958 to 1968, he taught undergraduate botany courses at Indiana State University before returning to Purdue University as Professor of Botany and Plant Pathology and Curator in 1968. Three years later, in 1971, he became Director of the PUR Herbarium. He has explored and collected from several regions of the United States, Central America, and especially Mexico and Brazil, focusing on the taxonomy of Neotropical rust fungi. In 1995, Hennen retired from Purdue University and moved to Texas, where he became a Resident Research Associate at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Fort Worth. He has authored and co-authored many scientific articles and books on rust fungi, often in partnership with students and collaborators.