NHRE NEWS: The Newsletter of the NSF REU Site: …...We funded ten NHRE alumni from the class of...

Welcome to the NSF REU-Site Natural History

Research Experiences’ annual newsletter.

Directors’ Corner

The Newsletter of the NSF REU Site: Natural History Research

Experiences Summer Internship Program

REU Site, EAR-1062692

Volume 3

Autumn 2014

The fifth season of NHRE came to a close on August 2nd, 2014. Members of the class of 2015 – the last on our

current NSF award – are already downloading their applications. It is apt that we reflect for a moment on the

NHRE experience. What have we, meaning all of us, achieved? Program directors of any stripe are forced to

reckon with “metrics” -- measures of performance. We can report with delight that the number of students at-

tending professional meetings skyrocketed this year. We funded ten NHRE alumni from the class of 2013 to

attend professional meetings and at least five members of the class of 2014 already have travel plans in the

works. (See our listings on pages:14-16 - did we miss you?) Meetings attendance highlights one way in which

NHRE reaches beyond the walls of our museum to impact the broader scientific community. In the past two

years NHRE interns have interacted with ~11,000 members of the museum-going public during our Scientist-Is

-In outreach festival. Sharing our passion with the public gives something back to the community (the taxpay-

er) that ultimately supports our work. We could go on…seven of our alumni have published their NHRE pro-

jects and 39 of you have gone on to graduate or professional school in the sciences. These metrics serve a pur-

pose. They allow us to quantify our contribution to society and justify our existence. Indeed, a metric must, by

definition, be quantifiable. But we hope NHRE achieves something beyond these statistics. We see NHRE

training you to think rigorously and behave ethically. We see NHRE revealing to you what a career in science

is really like (for better or worse!). We see NHRE connecting you to the museum and to your mentor, develop-

ing an enduring relationship. We see NHRE inspiring you to believe in yourself – to believe in your promise.

To us, this is what we have achieved.

We hope you will read through these pages and connect with your peers and with us here at the museum.

Please tell us what you are up to! Are you in school? Working? Been awarded a fellowship? Gone in the field?

Had a major life event? Published a manuscript? Please let us know. We want to hear from you.

Thanks for indulging us as we attempt

to keep in touch with you using stone-

age techniques.

Cheers,

Liz & Gene

NHRE NEWS

NHRE Class of 2014

NHRE 2014

50 The number of dino-saur teeth meas-ured.

3 The number of pro-jects related to Tahi-ti.

0 The number of in-terns who got to go to Tahiti.

1,500,000: The approximate number of base pairs analyzed.

1 The number of “female” mummies discovered to be male.

3 The number of new species of robber-fly discovered.

2 the number of grape species discovered to have been crossed to produce the Concord grape in your jelly.

Page 2 NHRE NEWS

NHRE Class of 2010

Collecting and Studying the Plant Family Icacinaceae

Submitted by Greg Stull

I am starting my 5th year of a PhD program at the University of Florida

(Biology Dept). I am studying the evolutionary history of a poorly

known tropical plant family called Icacinaceae. The family has around

150 extant species, and a really good fossil record. The modern distribu-

tion of the family is in tropical Africa, Asia, and South America (it's

pantropical), but around 65 - 35 million years ago it also occurred in

Europe and North America.

I am studying both living and extinct members of the family. I am se-

quencing lots of nuclear and chloroplast genes to understanding evolu-

tionary relationships among living species, and studying the morphology

of both living and extinct members of the family, to understand how the fossil/extinct species relate to the living mem-

bers of the family. Collectively, I hope, my research will allow me to reconstruct the age of the family and its patterns of

diversification and migration around the earth in response to geologic and climatic changes over the past 65 million

years.

So far my research has led to some pretty cool places. To collect living species of Icacinaceae, I have traveled to the

Madidi region of Bolivia and Yunnan Province, China. I have visited several museums in the Netherlands to examine

collections of modern plants (Wageningen and Leiden), and within the next year I will travel to London and perhaps

also Paris to visit additional museums to look at both modern and fossil collections of Icacinaceae. I am also studying

fossil specimens from the Smithsonian (they have quite a few Icacinaceae fossils!). These fossils have already been

loaned or photographed by my advisor, so unfortunately I did not make it to DC for a visit.

I probably have about 1.5 years until I finish my PhD. Then I will hopefully move onto a post doc (or some other re-

search position) studying plant evolution in some capacity.

I still think about the NHRE program quite a bit. It was an awesome experience, certainly one of the best summers I

have had, and it really solidified my interest in pursuing a career in collections-based research. I feel very fortunate that I

was able to participate in the program and interact with so many curators and see so much of the wonderful collection

you have at the NMNH.

One Semester to Go

Submitted by Christa Jackson

This is my last semester at Kansas University. It feels like it has taken forever to get here, but I am grateful for the ex-

periences along the way. I was in Austin, Texas all summer for an internship with Statoil in their research and develop-

ment group. I will be submitting an abstract to the American Association of Petroleum Geologists for my summer in-

ternship project. It was so much fun, and I met a lot of wonderful people. I often think about everyone at NMNH. The

internship experience there was definitely the best, and it will always be with me.

Page 3 NHRE NEWS

Mapping Deposits in Central Minnesota.

Submitted by Katie Marshall

I completed a M.S. in geology at Idaho State University in the summer of 2013. My thesis updated and expanded glacial

chronologies in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, the Southern Alps, and New Zealand using luminescence dating

of glacial outwash. That same summer I started working for the Minnesota Geological Survey as a Quaternary Geolo-

gist. I am currently mapping deposits left by the Laurentide ice sheet in central Minnesota.

Just Married and Back From Ghana!

Submitted by Sarah Ehlinger

My life has been so incredibly busy for the past year that I've

barely had time to breathe!

Francis Annan Affotey ("Annan") and I met salsa dancing in

Ghana in 2011. He is an instructor and is now dancing here with

a team in Milwaukee. His paintings are also in a gallery in Mil-

waukee. Back in November we held our traditional engagement

ceremony in Ghana. This is considered a customary marriage in

Ghana. It was quite the ordeal! His family gathered outside my

host family's house carrying gifts for me and my family on their

heads. They proceeded in and presented the gifts to my father

and mother who had come from Wisconsin for the event. It was

full of singing, dancing, and storytelling.. Annan arrived in the US in May. This was his third attempt to

come to the US; he was denied the other two times. We had 90

days to get married, so we put together a fast but beautiful wed-

ding. The matching kente cloth on our outfits is a traditional,

hand-woven fabric from Ghana.

We are staying in Milwaukee for the time being because it's

close to home and we have a lot of paperwork to do. I am

working at a small geoengineering/environmental consulting

firm. It's a bit different from the big-picture questions I'm used

to working with, but it's good work. I am also writing another

Rotary Grant like the one I did for Ghana. This one will build

two boreholes in Sierra Leone. (I was actually in Sierra Leone

in March when the Ebola first hit neighboring Guinea).

So, that's life in a nutshell! I do miss DC greatly and hope someday I can connect with an international development

company there and head back. We own land in Ghana, so my dream is to find an organization that does work in the US

and West Africa.

Family Gathering in Ghana

Sarah & Annan

Page 4 NHRE NEWS

Going for a PhD at the American Museum of Natural History

Submitted by Spencer Galen

This fall, I started my PhD at the American Museum of Natural History as part of their Richard Gilder Graduate

School. I am studying the evolution of malaria parasites, especially the ones that infect birds. I am proud to say that

my time at the Smithsonian had a big impact on my desire to continue to work at a major museum.

Alumni update 2010

Rebecca Richards has returned to Australia to study at the University of Adelaide after

receiving her Master of Philosophy from Oxford. She has become a passionate leader in the

Indigenous community and is committed to preserving and promoting Aboriginal culture. Re-

becca is a member of the Adnyamathanha and Barngarla peoples of the Flinders Ranges in

South Australia, where she has custodial responsibilities for women's sites including her fami-

ly site, Pukatu. She continues to be an advocate for Indigenous rights.

Caroline Ruiz graduated from George Mason Uni-

versity in 2012 with her bachelor's in psychology and

history and then entered grad school at George Ma-

son to earn her Masters in social work. She graduated

in May 2014 and continued working at her internship

as an oncology counselor. Caroline is now working

part time at the American Society of Clinical Oncolo-

gy as their Cancer.net information coordinator. She

hopes to continue working in oncology or as a medi-

cal social worker in a hospital in Virginia.

Kristen Simmons is in the third year of her PhD program

in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her MA thesis

is: 'How We Talk About Katsinam: Hopi Ethics and Mass

Media.' The MA is presented in a multimedia format

(academic paper, short film, and catalog) so that it can ad-

dress theoretical concerns around method, representation,

and visual anthropology.

Joanna Larson is just starting her second year as a PhD

student in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department

at the University of Michigan. She is supported by an NSF

GRFP this year.

Matthew Nielsen is well into his disser tation

research now on phenotypic plasticity and differ-

ent thermoregulation mechanisms in pipevine

swallowtail caterpillars.

Maddie Brown continues her studies of Ecological and

Environmental Anthropology at Stanford University in Cali-

fornia.

Jessica Glass is a PhD student in the Depar tment of Ecol-

ogy and Evolutionary Biology Department at Yale Universi-

ty.

NHRE Class of 2011

Submitted by Anthony Deczynski

This past January I studied abroad in Tanzania on a wildlife program with

the University of Delaware. In May 2014, I graduated from Delaware with

an Honors Degree with Distinction, double majoring in Entomology and

Wildlife Conservation and a minor in Biology. I am currently working on

my Masters in Entomology at Clemson University under Dr. Michael Cate-

rino, studying flea beetle systematics.

Flea Beetle Systematics

Page 5 NHRE NEWS

Energy Strategies

Submitted by Luke Lavin

Over the last few years, I have ended up moving away from anthropology and museums and moving toward energy poli-

cy. The major reasons for going in that direction was my need to better utilize my interests in both the hard (I was a

physics major) and social (anthropology) sciences. I found that energy is a topic of burgeoning and continued relevance

where an interdisciplinary perspective is appreciated.

I spent a bit of time in DC after college graduation and now I am currently working for an energy consultancy in San

Francisco called E3 (https://ethree.com/ ). We do consulting on a variety of strategy and policy issues for the government,

utilities, and developers, mostly here in California and the West. I'm currently involved in lots of work on the value of

solar/net metering, i.e. the policy for how those who have solar on their roofs or other "behind the meter" generation

should be compensated by their utility. I expect to be in this job for a couple more years before pursuing graduate stud-

ies.

On The Road

Submitted by Gretel Corsa

I graduated from Cornell University in December

2012, and started a six month road trip with my fami-

ly in May 2013. We traveled the four borders of the

US in a travel trailer. The trip ended at the end of

2013 and I landed in Los Angeles. I started working

for a private school in Pasadena in February in the

Advancement Department. I help with donor recep-

tions, gift processing, and database management. So

far, it has been a great experience. I've grown very

fond of the school and the community, and though it's

something that I just landed on, it's a great fit.

Grad school is still somewhere on the horizon, just

not as close as I thought. These past few years have

been a crazy ride, but I wouldn't change a thing.

Plants and Insects

Submitted by Alison Post

I graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2014 and I presented a poster at the Evolution meeting the fol-

lowing June. Now, I'm actually working as the lab manager of an entomology lab at UMD. However, I'm more inter-

ested in plants, so I do a lot of the plant-insect interaction studies. I'm currently applying to grad schools in Colorado

and California, so hopefully next year at this time I'll be a grad student somewhere.

https://ethree.com/

Page 6 NHRE NEWS

Medical Anthropology

Submitted by Victoria Danner

I am entering my second year of my Master's in applied medical anthropology at the University of Maryland. I am cur-

rently applying to various health organizations, including the NIH. I have also applied for a program assistant position

with the Recovering Voices Program at the Natural History Museum. I am waiting to hear from them. I'm still in contact

with Dr. Archambault and she is helping me apply for jobs within the Smithsonian Institution. I am also in the process

of submitting my Master’s thesis to be featured at the Society of Applied Anthropology conference in Pennsylvania this

spring, and in the American Anthropological Association sometime in the summer.

I believe everything is going as expected. I'm looking forward to graduating and getting out in the world. I might go for

my PhD someday but for now, I want to gain some real-world experience.

A June Wedding for Another NHRE Alumni

Rhiannon LaVine was married to Damien

Swann on the June 21 2014, in her aunt’s

backyard in Pleasant Prairie, WI. Her under-

graduate advisor and mentor walked her down

the aisle while the Jurassic Park theme played.

The cake decoration was a geological time

scale complete with critters!

Rhi is continuing her studies as a PhD Pre-

Candidate in the Department of Geophysical

Sciences at the University of Chicago.

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Page 7 NHRE NEWS

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Page 7 NHRE NEWS

Alumni update 2011

Haley Vaseghi has graduated from George

Mason University and is now in her first year in

the microbiology and immunology doctoral

program at the University of North Carolina.

Kristin Lapos star ted graduate school in August 2014 at

Seton Hall University in New Jersey. She is in their Masters

(M.A.) program in Museum Professions on the Registration/

Collections Management track. Kristin will graduate in 2016

and hopes that in the future she will work with museum collec-

tions. She is also working as a graduate assistant in Seton Hall's

College of Nursing, which provides her with 2/3 remission and

a monthly stipend.

Alyson Harding graduated from Nor th Carolina State

University. She currently works as an assistant construction

site supervisor for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver,

Colorado. Alyson spends her days working on the construc-

tion site, managing and leading volunteers.

Matthew Chansler is attending graduate

school at Michigan State University. He is in

the Department of Plant Biology. He has

spent the last three semesters teaching and

getting ready to defend his thesis at the end of

November 2014.

NHRE Class of 2012

A NHRE Experience Paying Off!

Submitted by Ellis Cochran

I graduated from Southern Oregon University in June of 2013.

(B.S. degree in Human Communication). I am happy to report

that I am currently in my 2nd year as a full-time Master's stu-

dent at Louisiana State University. The program that I have

been admitted into is a M.A./PhD. dual program in Communi-

cation Studies at LSU. I must say that my NHRE experience is

still paying off even as a graduate student because I am cur-

rently going through the Institutional Review Board (IRB)

research process again for an Anthropology seminar this se-

mester.

Researching Philippine Rodents

Submitted by Dakota Michael Rowsey

I am in Grad school at the University of Minnesota majoring in Ecology, Evolution, and Biology. My PhD advisor is

Sharon Jansa. My research focus will be mammalian systematics and evolution, and my study group will likely be mu-

rine (rat-relatives) rodents endemic to the Philippines. I am also the curatorial assistant for the mammal collection, so

even now I am working in a museum! I have also applied for the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.

I still attribute my decision to go to grad school largely based on my NHRE experience.

https://www.habitatmetrodenver.org/

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Page 8 NHRE NEWS

Desert Survival, Forest Trails and an Engagement Too!

Submitted by Tyler Imfeld

In October of 2013, I began a year of service with the Stu-

dent Conservation Association in California. From then until

this past May, I worked with the Ridgecrest Field Office of

the Bureau of Land Management in the Californian Mojave

Desert. We sought to mitigate the ecological effects of ille-

gal off-highway vehicle traffic, and restore critical habitats

for the threatened desert tortoise. Our work entailed camp-

ing and working in the desert for 10 days at a time, regard-

less of weather conditions. We endured heat over 100 de-

grees, cold below freezing, flash-flood inducing rains and

hurricane-force winds throughout our 8 months of work, but

through it all successfully restored 20,000+ square meters of

desert habitat through soil decompaction, seed transfers and

"vertical mulching" (a technique that utilizes dead bushes to

create microhabitats and camouflage the route we restored).

After our 8 months in the Mojave, we were contracted to the California State Parks to recreate a trail in Humboldt Red-

woods State Park in Northern California, which had been damaged and closed by a wild fire 11 years ago. Over the

course of the summer, we constructed 1/4 mile of entirely new trail, built 5 retaining walls and retouched nearly 3/4 mile

of existing trail, entirely with hand tools! My 10 months of service concluded in mid-August, at which point I had a

week to travel home, unpack and deep-clean my things, repack and move to Saint Paul, MN for graduate school. Some-

how, in spite of our field-based lifestyle, I was able to apply to, interview at and get accepted to the University of Min-

nesota's PhD. program in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior. Coincidentally, Dakota Rowsey, who

was in the NHRE program with me, is now at UMN and has an office next-door to mine! I am working with Keith Bark-

er and Bob Zink on avian phylogenetics and systematics, particularly of North American songbirds. The program has

only just begun, but already I'm formulating some tentative ideas and am thrilled to begin my own research.

I somehow managed to find time to buy a ring and propose to Melissa Beth. We waiting to hear back about our venue,

but we should be getting married in January of 2016.

Gopherus agassizii

Alumni Update 2012

José Fuentes is in his second year at the Universi-

ty of Puerto Rico Law School. He collaborates

with the Criminal Law Pro Bono as well as the In-

tellectual Property Pro Bono of the University.

He has also been a student member of the Federal

Bar Association and a member of the editorial staff

of the University of Puerto Rico Law Review.

This is José’s 4th consecutive year working in the

faculty of the university’s College of Natural Sci-

ences Genetics program. He is a teacher's assistant.

In January, he visited Romania and Bulgaria.

Adam Martin continues his consultation for

a state representative and works part time for a

bioengineering firm working on river restora-

tion projects. He plans on applying for a MS at

the University of Michigan, the University of

British Columbia, and Purdue University.

Tushar Mittal is a graduate student in the Uni-

versity of California Berkeley Astronomy Depart-

ment. His research interests are Planet Formation,

Protoplanetary Disk Dynamics and Magma Phys-

ics.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]







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Akela Kuwahara is star ting a PhD pro-

gram in Developmental and Stem Cell Biol-

ogy at the University of California, San

Francisco. She was in Central America for

2.5 months this past summer traveling

around Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Leticia Jones continues to work at the Stanford Graduate School

of Business. On November 2nd of this year she married long time beau

Alexander Brown.

Maris Jones is in her senior year at Brown University. She is study-

ing in the undergraduate program of the Department of Portuguese and

Brazilian Studies. She is also a teaching assistant for the Ghanaian

Drumming and Dance Ensemble at Brown. Salvatore Anzaldo has just returned

from a 6 month collecting trip to Panama.

He mostly collected weevils and spent

time working in STRIs insect collection.

On returning home, he sorted the samples

and is now starting a few new projects

with what he collected.

Sarah Verghese is cur rently working as a Geosteer ing Analyst at

Terra Guidance, a geosteering company in Colorado. Terra Guidance

is hired by oil and gas companies to geosteer horizontal wells. The

data is sent from rigs and used to determine where rock formations

are relative to the wellbore that is being drilled. This information

helps the geologist keep the wellbore in the desired target zone.

NHRE Class of 2013

Graduating in December with Two BS Degrees!

Submitted by Valerie Hartigan

I am currently in my last semester of undergraduate work and will be graduating in

December from Coastal Carolina University with two BS degrees, one in Marine

Science and one in Biology. I am employed as a student research assistant with Dr.

Juliana Harding and still work part time as a Registered Nurse. I am active in re-

search at my school and have recently been participating in physiological research

examining gecko embryonic development and egg membrane structure under vary-

ing environmental conditions. While all of those activities keep me busy, I still spend

as much time with my daughter as I can. I plan to attend graduate school next fall to

begin working toward my PhD.

Thanks to my NHRE experience in 2013, I participated in another NSF REU this

past summer as an Analytical Studies Intern for the Smithsonian Museum Conserva-

tion Institute. Once again, I was working with Christine France and Mike Vecchione to perform stable isotope analysis

of squid beaks. While my NHRE project focused on several species of cephalopods collected during a single sampling

trip, my work this past summer was concentrated on temporal variation in isotope values from a single squid species,

Illex illecebrosus from the late 1800s to today. We are currently still analyzing data from both REU projects and work-

ing on manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals. An added bonus for this REU was that I was able to share

an apartment with another NHRE alum, Abree Murch, for the second summer in a row and I truly enjoyed getting to

spend more time with her. I will be forever grateful for my NHRE experiences.

Thanks for the friends that I have made, the professionals with whom I have been allowed to interact, and the invaluable

experience that I have gained.

Outstanding Student

Submitted by Subir Bahadur Shakya

I graduated from Southern Arkansas University with the Distinction "Outstanding Student: College of Science and Tech-

nology 2014," and I now have started my PhD program at Louisiana State University under Dr. Fred Sheldon. I will be

working with avian phylogenetics in SE Asia.







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Page 10 NHRE NEWS Page 10 NHRE NEWS

A Summer at Scripps

Submitted by Raquel Bryant

This summer, I worked with Dr. Richard Norris at Scripps Institution of

Oceanography in La Jolla, California. I spent the summer creating an early

Cenozoic ichthyolith record for the equatorial Atlantic. I did this in order to

investigate the response of the pelagic community to global climate change,

specifically the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. I found that the pelag-

ic community stayed relatively stable through the extreme greenhouse condi-

tions of the early Eocene. I will be continuing this work for my senior thesis

as well as presenting a poster in December at the American Geophysical Un-

ion conference in San Francisco. This semester I am a TA for Stratigraphy

and Sedimentation, working in a sediment lab picking foraminifera, as well

as applying to PhD programs!

Submitted by Gaurav Kandlikar

This is the first email that I am sending from my new office at the University of Maryland, where I have started as a

PhD student! I've joined Nathan Kraft's research group (http://life.umd.edu/biology/kraftlab/Home.html ) in the Be-

haviour, Ecology, Evolution & Systematics (BEES) program. I was awarded an NSF Graduate Research fellowship

earlier this month as well as receiving the American Society of Plant Taxonomists Undergraduate Research Prize for

my work on hybridization and speciation in Isoetes.

All of my reviewers for the grant highlighted the NHRE experience as an important part of my application.

Gaurav joins the BEES Program at the University of Maryland

Studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale

Submitted by Frank Stabile

I was accepted into the PhD program in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at Yale. I've been in New

Haven for about a two months now and classes have started, so there's plenty to keep me busy. At the moment, I plan

on working with Rick Prum and examining questions related to the evolution of birds. I am also working on publish-

ing several papers, both from my work in undergrad and in NHRE. The two papers that came out of my NHRE sum-

mer at the Smithsonian are in review and one is very close to publication. I'm really excited about that. I'm also work-

ing on a paper from my work on chickadees as an undergrad. I will be first author on this paper and author on two

others with my colleagues. These papers are not as complete as the shrew papers, but they are very much still in the

pipeline

Coincidentally, Jessica Glass is in my cohort of first year students in EEB, and, while talking to her I realized she also

did the NHRE program in 2010.

http://life.umd.edu/biology/kraftlab/Home.html







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Submitted by Christopher Cohen

I am attending the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting this November, and I will be giving a TMP (ten

minute presentation) on the revision of the robber-fly genus Leptopteromyia (Diptera: Asilidae). The talk will be part of

a student competition.

I have found time to do some field collecting (robber flies) around Oregon, and was fortunate enough to receive two

intramural grants to pursue my own research on robber flies. I have decided to run for president in the OSU bug club,

and I am also applying for the GRFP. If I get the grant, it will be amazing!

Participation in a Student Competition at the ESA Meetings

A Busy Year

Submitted by Jennifer Gil

After my wonderful NHRE internship at the National Museum of Natural History, I participated in a

science competition called Famelab at the California Academy in San Francisco. I had the chance to

describe the Moorea Biocode Project to a live audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChJ0TMBuw4s&feature=youtu.be. It was the best experience I

have ever had. I was able to meet up with my 2013 NHRE roommate, Gaby Ramirez, who was also

in San Francisco at the same time as my presentation.

I had the opportunity to go to the Ocean Science meeting last year in Hawaii and present my Smith-

sonian NHRE poster. Thanks to my NHRE work I was also invited to participate in two more con-

ferences: SACNAS held recently in Los Angeles and NSHMBA in Philadelphia, in which I won a

traveling scholarship. I stayed with my friend Grace Cooper (NHRE 2013 intern) who is a graduate

student at Temple University in Philadelphia.

This summer I was doing research at molecular lab in nanotechnology testing GQD materials for

medical applications. My NHRE roommates Kristie Hansen and Gaby Ramirez came to visit me in Puerto Rico. They

stayed at my home, and my mother cooked them traditional Puerto Rican food. We went to Biobay, Caves of Camuy

and the tropical rainforest Yunque. The NHRE Internship has opened so many doors to me, not just professionally, but

also personally.

I am currently a senior at the University of Puerto Rico of Rio Piedras Campus. Since my NHRE internship 2013, I have

visited many science museums and I am now working on a team that is helping to build a science museum in Puerto

Rico called “Exploratorio”.

I recently started a science blog; http://www.cienciapr.org/es/blogs/members/el-edificio-de-espejos-en-rio-piedras

Even though do I do not know what career path to take next, the NHRE internship experience will be one I will never

forget.

Submitted by Katie Keil

Following my college graduation in May, I accepted an internship with the Juneau Forestry Sciences Laboratory and

embarked on a 5 month adventure in Alaska. I contributed to two research projects: the Tongass Wide Young Growth

Study (TWYGS) and Cooperative Stand Density Study (CSDS). These conservation- driven studies test silvicultural

treatments on second growth stands to restore wildlife habitat and improve wood production. TWYGS is primarily inter-

A 5 Month Internship in Alaska’s Wilderness

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChJ0TMBuw4s&feature=youtu.be

http://www.cienciapr.org/es/blogs/members/el-edificio-de-espejos-en-rio-piedras







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ested in the re-vegetation of the thinned site, whereas CSDS focuses on tree health and growth. Training took place in

Juneau and included everything from plant identification and field equipment use to wilderness first aid and bear de-

fense. I then journeyed south to Prince of Wales (POW) Island, where I was stationed for the remainder of the field sea-

son. Since my TWYGS crew would be working sites on the northern tip of the island for our 8-day workweeks, we

spent the first weekend on POW building kitchen and sleeping area structures in the city of Coffman Cove. Once camp

was established, my crew readied our 40-pound work packs and began our field research. For each plot, we flagged the

boundaries, photographed the canopy cover, used quadrats to record the understory vegetation, and measured the diame-

ter at breast height (DBH), condition, height, and height to live crown of tagged trees. Once we inputted specified trees

into the quadratic mean diameter (QMD) calculator, we performed upper stem diameter measurements and cored the site

trees. When we completed our 6 installations for TWYGS in late August, we disassembled our camp at Coffman Cove

and began taking floatplanes to sites for CSDS. Once dropped off by the plane, we set up camp and hiked as much as 2

miles into plots where we collected tree data and recorded ingrowth. When we completed data collection at an installa-

tion, a floatplane would transport us to the next site until CSDS concluded in late September with 6 completed sites.

After fully immersing myself in both the science and the wilderness of Alaska, I fully understand how vital these two

experiments are to conserve the biodiversity of an area severely affected by human activity.

Submitted by Grace Cooper

Well I have survived the first couple of months of graduate

school!

My department here at Temple is fantastic and very supportive.

My advisor is Inma Garcia-Sanchez who has already helped me

find some great sources to ground me in the field of linguistic

anthropology. The other professors are very friendly and intelli-

gent as well, as are my cohort and other graduate students. So, at

this point, I love graduate school and feel so special to have the

privilege to be here.

On July 19th 2014, I married Noé Rodriguez and he came with

me to Philadelphia to support me in graduate school. He is ad-

justing well to life here and so far his experience in Philadelphia

has been a positive one. He is a commercial painter and drywaller and has al-

ready found a job. However, he eventually wants to start his own business and

we are now working on getting all the necessary paperwork done.

It has been so wonderful to have his support, and married life feels great. I feel so

fortunate to have him with me, and I tell him so every day.

I really want to say that I appreciate everything the NHRE program has done for

me. It truly changed my life, and the academic preparation is already serving me

very well, and has made me a strong member of the department here.

Going for a PhD in the Field of Linquistic Anthropology

The families of Grace & Noé

Alumni Update 2013

Gabrielle Ramirez was awarded a Houston Geological Society Foundation scholarship in December of 2013. Two un-

dergraduates are nominated by professors from each of the 7 major Texas universities. One graduate from each is award-

ed the scholarship. One out of those seven is awarded the top honor and larger scholarship, the highest honor given to one

Texas geology undergraduate annually by HGS. Gabrielle was that recipient.







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Abree Murch has been working in the Paleobiology Depar tment at

NMNH as Dr. Matt Carrano’s assistant. Her duties include updating

the Paleobiology and Polyglot Paleontologist Databases, processing

sediment samples collected in the field last summer, retrieving journal

articles, and generally keeping Dr. Carrano sane as he works on the

Dinosaur Hall renovation. When she isn’t panning for microfossils and

digging around in the far corners of the library, Abree can be found

rock climbing – she spends most of her free time at the local rock gym

and recently split a weekend climbing in the Red River Gorge in Ken-

tucky and the New River Gorge in West Virginia.

Caitlin Boas star ted a graduate program this

year at the University of California, Berkeley. She

joined the Department of Integrative Biology. Her

interests are in Paleoecology.

Amy Rutter was featured in Business Insider Maga-

zine in March 2014.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-impressive-

students-at-penn-state-2014-2?op=1

Jana Burke is studying at Yale Graduate School of Ar ts and Sciences. Her

areas of interest include paleoecology, oceanography and macroevolution. Her

goal is to study the effects of climate change events on evolutionary trajectories

and community structure and function throughout time. She also hopes to gain

knowledge of the biology and ecology of planktonic foraminifera as well as the

methods for analyzing foraminiferal assemblages from the past and present.

Alexander Kralick is teaching Biology at Potomac High School in Oxon Hill,

Maryland.

2014: Interns in the Exhibits

The museum was teaming with visitors as all 17

NHRE Interns made their way out into the exhibit

halls for the NHRE annual “Scientist-Is-In” day.

Keeping to a schedule of 2 hours, each intern present-

ed a multitude of objects that explained their summer

research projects. Gene Hunt was the designated per-

son-counter and estimated over 6,300 museum visi-

tors interacted with NHRE interns. A record so far!

NHRE intern Claudia Mazur shows off a dinosaur footprint.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-impressive-students-at-penn-state-2014-2?op=1

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-impressive-students-at-penn-state-2014-2?op=1







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Maricel Beltrán Burgos, NHRE 2014, talks about teeth from

theropod dinosaurs with museum visitors.

Christine DeMyers shows visitors some objects from the

Anthropology Collections.

NHRE Professional Presentations

Here we list all professional presentations given by NHRE alum. If you presented your NHRE work at a conference and you don’t

see it listed here, please let us know!

Jackson, Christa, M; Cottrell, E; Kelley, K A. 2010. Mineral-melt partitioning of V and Sc at arcs: implications for mantle wedge

oxygen fugacity. Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (Poster presentation).

Jagani, Sheel; Rick, Torben; Hofman, Cour tney. 2011. Ancient Oyster Fisher ies of the Chesapeake Bay: Methods and Impli-

cations. Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (Poster presentation).

Zimmer, Elizabeth; Johnson, Gabriel; Nagi, Suzanne; Wollaeger, Heidi; Figlar, Richard. 2014. Genetic variability in Magnolia acu-

minata (L.) populations in the United States. Botany 2014 (Poster presentation).

Lavin, Luke; Bell, J . 2012. Explor ing the Collections and Relations of A.C. Haddon at the Smithsonian. 16th Annual Five

College Anthropology Undergraduate Research Conference (Oral presentation).

Lavin, Luke; Bell, Joshua. 2012. Explor ing the Collections and Relations of A.C. Haddon At the Smithsonian. American An-

thropological Association Annual Meeting (Oral presentation).

Deczynski, Anthony; Chamorro, M L; Konstantinov, A S. 2011. Morphology of the head and associated structures in New

World Cryptocephalini (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Cryptocephalinae). Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting (Poster

presentation).

Post, Alison, K; 2014. Exper imental Evolution of Divergence with Gene Flow: Testing for Local Adaptation in Yeast. Society

for the Study of Evolution (Poster presentation).

Corrigan, C. M.; Cohen, B. A.; Hodges, Kara. E; Lunning, N. G.; Bullock E. S. . 2012. 3.9 Billion Years Ago and the Asteroid Belt:

Impact Melts in Ordinary Chondrites. 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (Poster presentation).

Lavine, Rhiannon, J; Wagner , P. J .; Erwin, D. H. 2011. A phylogenetic dissection of the gastropod subfamily Knightitinae

across the Permian-Triassic boundary. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Oral presentation).

LaVine, Rhiannon, J; Wagner , P; Erwin, D. 2011. A phylogenetic dissection of the gastropod subfamily Knightitinae across

the Permian-Triassic boundary. Council on Undergraduate Research Conference of Research Experiences for Undergraduate Student

Scholarship (Poster presentation).







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Tóth, Anikó, B; Behrensmeyer , A.K.; Lyons S.K. 2012. Increased diversity and decreased uniqueness in Kenyan

mammal communities over the past century. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting (Oral presentation).

Keil, Daniel; Collins, A; Yanagihara, A; Lewis, C; Gillan, B. 2012. Jellyfish phylogenetics. Southern Regional Honors Confer-

ence (Oral presentation).

Rowsey, Dakota; Helgen, K. 2012. Species boundar ies of brushtail possums. Annual Meeting of the Gilber t Ichthyological

Society (Oral presentation).

Rowsey, Dakota; M; Helgen, Kr istofer M. 2013. Species boundar ies of brushtail possums in the Queensland wet tropics. An-

nual Meeting of the American Society of Mammologists (Poster presentation).

Kuwahara, Akela; Meyer , C; Collins, A. 2013. Assessing Autonomous Reef Monitor ing Structures (ARMS) as Biodiver sity

Monitors. Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting (Oral presentation).

Atta, Calder, J; LaFlamme, Marc; Sessa, Jocelyn A; Tweedt, Sarah; Erwin, Douglas H. 2012. Taphonomic biases influencing

exceptionally preserved Naraoia from the Burgess Shale. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Lopez, Oscar; Cottrell, E; War ren, J . 2012. Upper mantle oxygen fugacity in r idge and subduction zone settings recorded by

spinel peridotite. Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (Poster presentation).

Imfeld, Tyler S; Chaput, Dominique; Santelli, Cara M. 2013. The effect of nutr ients on the growth and manganese oxidation

of fungi and bacteria. Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Imfeld, Tyler, S; Dominique Chaput. Cara Santelli. 2013. The effect of nutr ients on the growth and manganese oxidation of

fungi and bacteria. 98th Meeting of Ecological Society of America (Poster presentation).

Goots, Alexis; Bruwelheide, Kar i; Owsley, Doug. 2013. Post-traumatic bone loss in Civil War soldiers. Meeting of the American

Association of Physical Anthropologist (Poster presentation).

Boas, Caitlin; 2014. Phylogenetics within Bellerophon: breaking down a classic wastebasket taxon. GSA Annual Meeting

(Poster presentation).

Burke, Janet; Behrensmeyer , Anna K; Badgley, Cather ine; Barry, John; Lyons, S Kathleen. 2014. Assessing the impact of

time-averaging on a Miocene vertebrate fauna from northern Pakistan. North American Paleontological Convention (Poster presenta-

tion).

Stabile, Frank; Woodman, N. 2014. Functional limb morphology of Afr ican myosor icine shrews (Mammalia, Sor icidae). Soci-

ety for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Rutter, Amy; J Maldonado, K Helgen, E Guti_rrez. 2014. Neotropical Deer : Morphometr ics and Taxonomy of the M azama

americana Species Complex (Mammalia: Cervidae). American Society of Mammalogists 94th Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Cooper, Grace; Bell, J . 2014. The Politics and Techniques of Cell Phone Repair . An Ethnography of Cell Phone Repair : Unit-

ing a Global Network of People, Places, and Things. 2014 Annual Meeting for the Society For Applied Anthropology (Oral presenta-

tion).

Cooper, Grace; Bell, J . 2014. Fixing Things: The Techniques and Politics of Repair . National Conference on Undergraduate

Research (Oral presentation).

Ramirez, Gabrielle; Andrews, Benjamin; Dennen, Rober t. 2013. Transpor t and sedimentation in unconfined ex-

perimental dilute pyroclastic density currents. Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union (Poster presentation).

Ramirez, Gabrielle; Andrews, B. 2013. Exper imental study of sedimentation in pyroclastic density cur rents.

Council on Undergraduate Research Conference of Research Experiences for Undergraduate Student Scholarship (Poster presenta-

tion).







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Hill Kristin, N; Bullock E. S. Corr igan C.M. McCoy T. J .. 2014. Unscrambling the History of Enstatite Chondr ites. 45th Lu-

nar & Planetary Science Conference (Poster presentation).

Gil Acevedo, Jennifer; Phelps, Patr icia; Watson, Bill. 2013. Improving the Learning Exper ience of Museum Visitors: Examin-

ing Different Types of Experiences in the Genome: Unlocking Life's Code Exhibit. 37th Senior Technical Meeting, University of

Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (Poster presentation).

Gil Acevedo, Jennifer; Watson, W. 2014. Improving the learning exper ience of museum visitors: Examining different types of

experience in the Genome: Unlocking Life's Code exhibit. Ocean Sciences Meeting (Poster presentation).

Kandlikar, Gauruv; Freund, Forrest; Johnson, Gabr iel; Taylor , W. Car l; Zimmer , Elizabeth. 2014. Chloroplast DNA reveals

uniparental plastid inheritance from Isoetes engelmannii in two allotetraploid speciation events. Botany 2014 (Poster presentation).

Keil, Katherine, E; Osborn, K. 2014. Associations between hyper iid amphipods and gelatinous zooplankton. Society for Inte-

grative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Keil, Katherine, E; 2013. Associations between hyper iid amphipods and gelatinous zooplankton.. Society of Integrative &

Comparative Biology (Poster presentation).

Wall, Kellie; Davis, F A; Cottrell, E. 2014. Oxygen fugacity recorded by xenoliths from Pacific oceanic islands. Geological

Society of America (Poster presentation).

Sherwood, Kate D; Owsley, Douglas W; Bruwelheide, Kar i S; Rouse, Stephen L; Hur lber t, Donald E. 2014. Basketmaker s

revealed: Physical, CT, and 3D analysis of mummified human remains from the Southwest. Conference on Undergraduate Research


Mazur, Claudia, I; Erwin, Douglas H; Jones, Clive, G. 2014. Ecosystem engineer ing dur ing the ear ly Cambrian. Sigma Xi

International Research Conference (Poster presentation).

Bricker, Casey, M; Owsley, Douglas W; Bruwelheide, Kar i S; Hull-Walski, Deborah A. 2014. Identification and Taphonomic

Analysis of Iron Coffin Burials from Southeast Virginia. Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology Association Conference (Oral

presentation).

Bricker, Casey, M; Owsley, Douglas W; Bruwelheide, Kar i S; Hull-Walski, Deborah A. 2014. Ancestry Determination within

Mid-19th Century Iron Coffins Burials. Carnegie Museum of Natural History. (Oral presentation).

Bricker, Casey, M; Owsley, Douglas W; Bruwelheide, Kar i S; Hull-Walski, Deborah A. 2014. Identification and Taphonomic

Analysis of Iron Coffin Burials from Southeast Virginia. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Conference.


Snider, Allison, M; Knowlton, N; Al-Rshaidat, M; Leray M. 2014. Barcoding and metabarcoding the cryptofauna of the northern

Red Sea. Western Society of Naturalists 95th Annual Meeting (Poster presentation).

Snider, Allison, M; Knowlton, N; Al-Rshaidat, M; Leray M. 2014. Barcoding and metabarcoding the cryptofauna of the northern

Red Sea. Central Michigan University 2nd Annual Honors Exhibition (Poster presentation).

Fernandez, Aileen; Hunt, David R; Hunt, Gene:; 2014. Determining Sex using the Human Sacrum. Global CUNY Conference

(Poster Presentation).

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