Ximena Londoño is an agronomist from the National University of Palmira, Colombia and a specialist in bamboo taxonomy. She did her fellowship in taxonomic botany in American bamboos at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, under the supervision of Dr. Thomas R. Soderstrom, during 1984-1986.
Ximena received several grants from the Smithsonian Institution during 1984 and 1993 to study American bamboos, especially the Guadua genus. She developed research projects from COLCIENCIAS, National Geographic Society, American Bamboo Society, Iowa State University, INBAR and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Colombia.
Having has extensive field experience in Latin America, including visits to Indonesia, China, Thailand, India, and South Korea, Ximena is also author of several scientific articles and the co-author of the book “American Bamboo” edited by Smithsonian Press (1999). Collaborator of the book “Bamboo. Tropical Forestry” (2015) edited by Springer International Publishing.
She is currently president of the Colombian Bamboo Society, of the Technical Committee 178 “Guadua-Bambú” of ICONTEC. In addition, she is an associate researcher at the National University of Colombia. Consultant and promoter of various research on Guadua and other bamboos in Colombia and Latin America, co-researcher in national and international projects.