November 2026 Speaker | Kennan Mighell : A World of Amanita: Mycological Adventures in Guyana and Cameroon

Please join us on November 17 for our monthly speaker and social.

FFSC members gather together on the third Tuesday of the month from September through May to catch up, discuss club business, and learn from interesting speakers. Plus, you can bring any fungi you have been lucky enough to find for identification!

Would you like to get to know this month's speaker better? Join us for Dinner with the Speaker at 5pm, prior to this event.

Join mycologist Kennan Mighell for a journey deep into the tropical forests of Guyana and Cameroon, where vibrant mushrooms and extraordinary fungal diversity reveal just how much we have yet to discover about the natural world. Despite their ecological importance, many tropical mushroom species remain poorly documented or unknown to science, and the genus Amanita offers a fascinating glimpse into this largely unexplored biodiversity. Drawing on field research and experiences working alongside the Patamona people of Guyana and the Baka people of Cameroon, Kennan will share stories from the field, encounters with remarkable fungi, and reflections on the relationships between people, place, and the living world. Blending travel, photography, and mycology, this talk invites you to explore two distinct rainforest environments and meet the fungi and people linking them together across time and space.

About the Speaker

Kennan is a mycologist, field biologist, and educator whose work explores fungal ecology, cultivation, and the relationships between fungi and people. He holds a master’s degree in biology and conducted graduate research on Amanita, investigating the diversity and ecology of this remarkable genus. His experience spans mushroom cultivation, field research with Indigenous communities and youth scientists in Guyana and Cameroon, and teaching biology and botany. Since 2022, he has also supported the Madagascar Mobile Library, a Malagasy-led initiative bringing educational resources and community-based learning to rural communities. Across these projects, Kennan is interested in how mycology can connect scientific inquiry with local knowledge, ecological relationships, and community-led discovery. He lives in Santa Cruz, CA with his dog Truffle where they help connect people with the marvels of the natural world through classes, workshops, and forays.