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Nalini M. Nadkarni was born 1954 October 13 in Bethesda, Maryland. She married John T. Longino in 1983 and has one son who was born 1989 August 6. Nalini's college education started at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, but she transferred to University of British Columbia in Vancouver Canada her Junior year which spanned 1974-1975 and she received her Bachelors in Science with honors in 1976. She commenced and completed her education at the University of Washington in Seattle and received her Ph.D. in forest ecology at the College of Forest Resources in 1983. Her post-doctoral research associate was at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas from 1983-1984. While receiving her Bachelors of Science she was a Forestry Technician for the U.S. Forest Service in Tongass National Forest, Alaska. In 1977, after she received her Bachelors of Science she traveled to Papa New Guinea and became an instructor in the department of biology at the University of Technology of Papa New Guinea. She was also a research assistant at the Wau Ecology Institute from 1977-1978. After she received her Ph.D. she became assistant professor at University of California, Santa Barbara (1984-1989). She then became director of research at The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida from 1989-1991. Nalini became a Member of the Faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington where she taught in environmental sciences in 1991 and retired with emeritus status in 2011. She received many awards and honors and was in professional societies including: Ecological Society of America, Botanical Socitey of America, Society for Conservation Biology, Xi Sigma Pi (National Forestry Honor Society), and Sigma Xi, Seattle Chapter. She was provided research support through grants, was a panel member, helped review manuscripts and proposals, was invited to many seminars and workshops, and had many publications and contributions. Her research is focused on the ecology of tropical and temperate forest canopies, particularly the role that canopy-dwelling plants play in forests at the ecosystem level. She carries out field research in Washington State and in Monteverde, Costa Rica with the support of the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. She has published two books and over 55 scientific articles in scientific journals in the area of forest canopy ecology and forest ecosystem ecology. Nalini has presented a number of endowed lectures at academic institutions around the country.