Thomas L. Rost is a professor of plant biology at the University of California, Davis and is currently the Executive Associate Dean there in the Division of Biological Sciences. He received his B.S. in biology from St. John's University, his M.A. in biology from Mankato State University, and his Ph.D. in botany from Iowa State University. He has taught developmental plant anatomy for almost 30 years. His primary research interests include the structure and development of roots in vascular plants and structural aspects of Pierce's disease in grape vines.
Ralph Stocking received his degrees in plant nutrition and plant physiology from University of California, Berkeley and University of California, Davis. His research background concerns water relations of plants, photosynthesis, and chloroplast structure and development, on which subjects he has published over 80 scientific papers. He has also been a coauthor of nine editions of the UC Davis series of botany/plant biology books.