Dr. Alisa Hove, professor of botany and chair of the biology department at Warren Wilson College, has won the semifinals of the Jeopardy! professors tournament. She advances to the final round, where she will have a chance to face off against other professors for the $100,000 grand prize and a spot in the upcoming Tournament of Champions.

The professors tournament is the first-of-its-kind on Jeopardy! The tournament began with 15 professors from across the United States and is now down to three finalists.

Hove will compete in the finals on Thursday, December 16 and Friday, December 17 against Sam Buttrey, associate professor of operations research at the Naval Postgraduate School, and the finalist of the Wednesday December 15 matchup. The scores from both events will be added together to determine the winner of the overall tournament.

In the semifinals Hove defeated Dr. Marti Canipe, an elementary science education professor at Northern Arizona University and Dr. Hester Blum, an English professor at Penn State University. Hove ended the game with $10,200 to secure the win.

She said bonding with other professors has been the most rewarding part of the tournament.

“My favorite part of this experience has been getting to know other professors from all over the country, and from all kinds of institutions from large public universities to community colleges and including smaller liberal arts colleges like ours,” Hove said. “Although we teach in different environments, we had so much in common when it came to talking about our craft of teaching, research and scholarship.”

The tournament is hosted by Mayim Bialik, an American actress known for her roles as Amy Farrah Fowler on “The Big Bang Theory,” Blossom Russo on “Blossom” and Kat on “Call Me Kat.”

For more information, please visit jeopardy.com/contestant-zone/2021/professors-tournament. Check local listings for show times and stations.