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Messages
from RTP Alumni
2007
News
from RTP alum:
"I
was in the Research Training Program in
1990
and just thought I'd say "hello"
and give you a quick update . After the
RTP, I went to Brazil and learned more about
medicinal plants (and swam with piranhas).
I worked at the Museum of Science in Boston,
then got a Master's degree in Education
and taught in schools. For the past five
years, I've been back in the museum world.
Currently, I'm the Education Director at
a museum in Palo Alto, California. I plan
science classes for children. We offer classes
on all those fun things that can't be done
in classrooms
Cristiano
Moreira (RTP
'98) who worked with Dr. Richadrd Vari
in the Division of Fishes, turned his RTP
project into a Master’s topic and then
went on to doctoral studies. He successful
defended his dissertation a the Universidad
de Sao Paulo last week (21 Sep 07)!
Sandy
(Saluke) Saha (RTP
'98) writes: "A lot has happened
since I participated in the summer of 1998
– got my Master’s at George Washington
in Museum Education, worked in a museum
for a bit, got married and now I’m
working with the local council of Girl Scouts.
I was excited to see that you are still
working with the RTP program. RTP was just
the most fun I have ever had. I loved the
opportunity to do research with Dr. Pogue.
Everyone I’ve worked with since 1998
knows that I described a species of moth
and some have seen photos of them. I also
really enjoyed the opportunity to learn
about all the different departments in the
museum and jobs that people had there. There
were so many unforgettable parts of the
program and it really solidified my commitment
to showing the public why museums are such
a wonderful and essential part of our lives.
My job with the Girl Scouts is to develop
programs that help spur their interest in
science. I’ve moved from working at
a museum and trying to attract an audience
to having an audience and trying to encourage
them to visit and become involved in museums."
- Sandra (Saluke) Saha, Program Specialist,
Girl Scout Council of the Nation's Capital
New
publication by RTP alum Diego
Cisneros-Heredia (2002)!
Cisneros-Heredia,
D.F and R.W. McDiarmid. 2007. Revision
of the characters of Centrolenidae (Amphibia:
Anura: Athesphatanura), with comments on
its taxonomy and the description of new
taxa of glassfrogs. Zootaxa 1572: 82 pp.
more
(like catapults!). I'm glad to see the RTP
is still going strong." - Karen (Glantz)
Miel
Congratulations
Caleb McMahan ( RTP '06) who worked
with George Zug. Caleb received the Outstanding
Undergraduate Research Award at the recent
South Carolina Academy of Science Annual
Meeting for his presentation of his RTP
project “Geographic
variation in the morphology of Hemidactylus
bowringii in Myanmar and Yunnan, China.”
The Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award
is sponsored by the South Carolina Academy
of Science (SCAS) in conjunction with the
Charleston and Clemson Chapters of Sigma
Xi, the Scientific Research Society. The
Academy recognizes one undergraduate student
per topical session for the award. Additionally,
Caleb received the AAAS award as the outstanding
male undergraduate scientist presenting
at the annual SCAS meeting.
October
2006
Xavier
Haro (RTP '04), from Quito Ecuador,
was recently awarded a Smithsonian Short
Term Visitor grant. He arrived Monday, 2
Oct 06, and will be spending the next few
months at the Museum working in the Department
of Botany with Harold Robinson finishing
up the last details of their RTP research
project in preparation to submit the manuscript
for publication. In addition to his focus
on completing is RTP research Zavier has
been actively preparing for graduate school
and hopes to be accepted to a US institution
where he will pursue his studies in Botany.
Xavier
comments:
"I cant believe I am back! So many
nice memories come to me. I am glad I am
here, and I hope I can finish my research
on Critoniopsis (an aster from South
America) now."
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August
2006
Michelle
Knapp (RTP '02) Memorial:
It
is with utmost sadness to share news with
our RTP community that Michelle Knapp (RTP
'02) died Sunday, 13 Aug 06 in a car accident.
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July
2006
RTP
Alumni make contact. Following are a few
of the many students we've seen and heard
from recently:
John
Janovec (RTP '95) writes from
the Latin American Botanical Congress in
the Dominican Republic where he's also joined
by Maria Alejandra Jaramillo (RTP
'95).
John
is currently working as a research botanist
for the Botanical Research Institute of
Texas (BRIT), based in Fort Worth, Texas.
He finished his postdoc in June 2003 and
moved to BRIT. While at NY he started a
long-term botany/ecology project in the
Peruvian Andes-Amazon region and expanded
that relatively small project to a large
research program, called the Andes to Amazon
Botany Program, that has now become the
Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program and
involves plants, ecology, lowland tapirs,
three important model moth groups, fungi,
wetland studies and conservation, Vanilla
studies, orchid inventories, and major technology
development (http://atrium.andesamazon.org)
John is
directing the program, living in Peru now
full-time, and spending a majority of his
time in remote regions doing field work.
He married Madeleine Perez Quijano, who
is a native of the central jungle (Dept
of Junin) of Peru and they are expecting
a child by about late December of this year!
John
says: "I would not be doing what
I am now had it not been for a series of
steps that led me from Ted Barkley at Kansas
State University to you, Harold, Vicki,
and others at the US Herbarium, which connected
me with Scott Mori and others at NY (that
summer of 1995), which motivated me to finish
my dissertation during 1995-1999, then move
to NY to work with Scott Mori as a postdoctoral
fellow under him."
To
see some recent press about John's work
go to a 11
June 2006 article.
Arden Ashley
(RTP '04) visited the Museum for a few days
before heading to New York to begin a two
year post teaching elementary school kids
through the program Teach for America. Arden
had a great time meeting the current RTP
students, but especially enjoyed the opportunity
to visit with her RTP advisor, Dave Pawson.
Still undecided about her future graduate
studies, Arden says she really hopes to
incorporate teaching into her long-term
career plans but remains very interested
in invertebrate research. After her association
with Teach for American Arden thinks graduate
study, earning a Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology
is likely.
Michelle
Knapp measuring bats
Fresh from the Mammals Meetings, Michelle
Knapp (RTP '02), stopped at the
Museum for a week to collaborate with Don
Wilson and Al Gardner about the identification
of some bats. Michelle is currently a graduate
student in Texas studying mammals.
Leo Versieux
(RTP '02) stopped by the Museum to visit
the herbarium. Unfortunately, the few days
he planned were the days the Museum was
closed as a result of flooding and power
outages. However, Leo was able to make contact
with Bob Faden and visit some of the botanic
gardens.
Lynn Copes
(RTP '04) is spending the summer at NMNH
working on several projects including an
analysis of dwarfism in mammals, a study
of the tooth emergence sequence in Leontopithecus
rosalia, and assisting with a study
of the wrist bones of primates to help better
understand the evolution of humans from
being quadrapeds to bipedalism. She is currently
a graduate student at Arizona State University.
ASU is also home to several other RTP alumni:
Megan Brown (RTP '04), Lee Zelewicz (RTP
'04) and Jamie Hodgkins (RTP '02).
Neil Aschliman
(RTP '04)
writes: "Two years later, it (RTP)
remains the seminal moment in my research
career and I thank you for making it possible.
:)" Bruce
and Neil got a publication out of his my
project in '05: "Relationships of sauries
and needlefishes (Teleostei: Scomberesocoidea)
to the internally fertilizing halfbeaks
(Zenarchopteridae) based on the pharyngeal
jaw apparatus." Neil C. Aschliman,
Ian R. Tibbetts, and Bruce B. Collette.
Proceedings of the Biological Society of
Washington. 118(2):416-427. 2005.
Abstract:
The 40 life history, myological, and osteological
characters that Tibbetts (1992) used in
his study of the hemiramphids are evaluated
for both saury genera (Cololabis
and Scomberesox) to determine if
the Scomberesocidae are more closely related
to the Zenarchopteridae, to the needlefishes
(Belonidae), or to the halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae)
and flyingfishes (Exocoetidae). Data were
analyzed using PAUP*, and eight
equally parsimonious trees were found (70
steps, CI 0.814, RI 0.938). This analysis
indicates that sauries are most closely
related to needlefishes, supporting the
historical concept of the superfamily Scomberesocoidea
as a monophyletic assemblage. A caudal displacement
of the origin of the retractor dorsalis
muscle is a tentative additional synapomorphy
for all four saury species. Zenarchopteridae
is strongly supported as a valid family
sister to the Scomberesocoidea (decay index
= 19, bootstrap = 100). Resolution of the
internal structure of the Belonidae and
the Hemiramphidae requires the identification
of additional characters and examination
of a greater number of taxa.
Kris Helgen
(RTP '00) has begun his one year postdoctoral
appointment at NMNH.
Melanie Mann
(RTP '00) Visited the Museum 4th of July
week with her husband Lance Payanal, they've
been married since 12 October 2004 and are
living in Hawaii. Melanie received her undergraduate
degree in bioarchaeology and has spent the
past 4 years working at construction sites
in Hawaii, doing Hawaiian burial recoveries
including monitoring construction, recovering
remains when found, securing an identification
for the remains and locating decendants
for reburial. In the fall Melanie will begin
medical school at the University of Hawaii,
John Burns School of Medicine with aspirations
to become radiologist.
Many former interns could be spotted the
weekend of June 24, in town for Susan
Grose's (RTP '95) wedding.
Jorge Velez
(RTP '04) Visited the museum 24 July 2006
to work with Bob Purdy on some fossil shark
teeth from Puerto Rico. Jorge reports that
his RTP project with Matt Carrano will be
published in the upcoming August issue of
Palaeogeography, Palaeoecology, Palaeoclimatology.
Jorge has another year remaining as an undergradaute
then next fall, August 2007, plans to to
return to DC for graduate school at Howard
University working with fossil sirenians.
Jorge has been quite active in his research
and has collaborated on several other publications
including one on fossil crustaceans from
the Caribbean which will be published in
2006 and fossil crocodylians from Puerto
Rico.
Jorge
Velez photographing his fossil shark teeth
Matthew Kweskin
(RTP '96) opted for a career in technology
instead of entomology but has landed a job
in the DC area and therefore has signed
up to be a volunteer in the Museum's Insect
Zoo where he can be found almost every Saturday.
Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia
(RTP '02) visited the Division of Amphibians
and Reptiles to work with his former RTP
advisor Roy McDiarmid on the systematics
of Glassfrogs, a subject they started while
in the Research Training Program back in
2002. They are describing 15 new species
and revising the taxonomy of the entire
family. Diego received his undergraduate
degree in applied ecology, and now is an
associated researcher of the National Museum
of Ecuador and is part of the board of directors
of the Ecuadorian Ornithological NGO Aves&Conservacion
(BirdLife Ecuador).
Roy
McDiarmid and Diego Cisneros-Heredia
