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Message
Board Archive
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Messages
from 2004
September
2004
Veronica
Toral
(1994) "I hope you remember me,
I am Veronica Toral, from Ecuador, an
RTP intern in 1994. I just found out
about the Message Center and had fun
reading the errands of my fellow RTPs.
I have been quite bad in keeping touch
with everyone, so I decided to send
you a message so you can post it in
the Message Board.
Straight after my RTP summer I got selected
as a volunteer and later an intern at
the Charles Darwin Research Station
in the Galapagos islands, where my previous
experience at the NMNH was highly valued.
While in Galapagos, I did my B.Sc. thesis
in the "Reproductive biology of
the sea cucumber (Isostichopus fuscus)
in Caamaño, Galapagos islands".
I left Galapagos in October 1996, heading
almost straight to do my M.Sc. in Conservation
Biology at the FitzPatrick Institute
of African Ornithology, University of
Cape Town, South Africa, where I earned
my degree in 1998.
While in South Africa, I met my now
husband, Tom Poulsom with whom I came
back to the Darwin station in November
1998 where I am still working. I am
Associate Researcher on Marine Biology,
still dealing with Sea Cucumbers (population
dynamics, biology, ecology, fisheries).
Our first baby, Nina was born in March
26th, 2002 and
we are now expecting our second baby
(due in March 2005).
I have been able to do a fair bit of
travelling due to my knowledge on sea
cucumbers, which has been amazing. In
July 2001, I went to Australia to present
results on some of my work in an international
conference, and I was able to get to
see parts of that beautiful country.
In October 2003, I got selected by FAO
to attend a workshop in Dalian, China
about sea cucumber management; in March
2004, I went to Kuala Lumpur, as the
Ecuadorian Representative to a CITES
workshop on the conservation of sea
cucumber, where I had the great honor
to meet Dr. Dave Pawson from
NMNH; then in May 2004, I got an invititation
from FAO to be part of an expert consultation
on CITES and marine and aquatic species
held in Rome.
I am in process of writing up a bit
of my work here, so as soon as I have
them published I will let you know.
Living in the Galapagos islands is great
and an ideal place to have Nina and
the new wee one growing in. I am no
longer diving due to some ear problems
and lately because of my pregnancy,
but I hope to be able to get back to
it. I have enclosed few photographs
in which I would like to introduce you
all to my family:
a) Chris Hardy
may be able to recognise the plants
in the "Sudafrica CapePoint Nina
Vero.jpg" as it was taken in our
last trip to visit my in-laws in South
Africa. The photo was taken in Cape
Point Nature Reserve, and it shows Nina
and me. (Hey Chris, if you read this,
thanks for the comment on the message
board. I heard you were doing some work
in CPT but never got the chance to see
you! have you enjoyed few nice braais?)
b)
Nina and I in Galapagos, taken few months
ago (refer to Finch Bay VeroNina.jpg)
c)
While in Kuala Lumpur got to see a bit
of the city with colleagues Dinorah
Herrero-Perezrul from Mexico and Manfred
Altamirano from Ecuador (refer to Manfred
Vero Dinorah.jpg)
d)
My husband Tom and Nina this past weekend
(refer to NinaTom.jpg)
e)
In Dalian in the FAO workshop with other
participants (refer to vtoral etal poster
Ascam China.jpg)
While in South Africa, Mike
Brewer (also an RTP in 1994)
came to visit me and we had a great
time exploring the African paks. In
1996, I also had Cynthia
Morales (RTP 1993 and then
came back for few months in 1994) visiting
me in my hometown Cuenca. I was in touch
with Fernanda
Zermoglio and Cesar
Nufio (both 1994), however,
I have lost all contacts now.I hope
this message finds you all well, and
I hope i will get some news after this
message. I have received some news whenever
Carole Baldwin (NMNH) comes by
Galapagos, and it has been lovely to
hear some news about the Museum. I am
still in touch with Carole every now
and then.
Take care and see you in the cyberspace..."
Veronica
April
2004
Amanda
Cass
(2003). "At the moment, I'm working
on wrapping up my senior honors thesis
here at Mt Holyoke, expanding on the
work I did last summer at the NMNH.
After leaving the museum I got all the
specimens I was working on on loan so
I could continue working on them, so
it's definitely crunch time now. Gary
Gillis (RTP '89) is on my
thesis defense committee! After graduation,
I'm headed home to Maine for the summer
to play with Al (the ever present horse).
I was planning on presenting at ASIH
this year, but unfortunately, it conflicts
with my graduation, so it'll have to
wait until next year. The great news
is that I got a Fulbright Fellowship
to go study at the Australian National
Museum next year! I'll be in Sydney
for 9 months working on larval fish
systematics (flatfish, of course!) with
Jeff Leis. I'm SO excited! I also applied
to graduate school this year. Though
it was a tough choice between University
of Chicago and Cornell, I ended up deciding
on Cornell. So I've deferred from there
and will be starting my PhD with Amy
McCune in the fall of 2005. When I visited
Chicago I met Dave's 2001 RTP intern,
Matt Friedman
(RTP '01), working in the lab I was
visiting. It's a *small* world!!!"
To make contact e-mail: ancass@MtHolyoke.edu
March
2004
Todd
Blackledge
(1994). A message from Todd to his RTP
advisor, Rich Vari: "I wanted to
say hello and give you an update on
my academic career. After the summer
working with you, I went to Ohio State
for my PhD in Entomology. I've been
working on spiders ever since. I'm mostly
interested in how and why spiders construct
webs with different architectures, and
how silk functions. Anyway, since OSU
I went to Berkeley for a postdoc, where
I worked on adaptive radiations of Hawaiian
spiders, then I taught at Cornell for
a semester, and now I'm at UC Riverside
doing a postdoc on spider silk mechanics
and the evolution of silk genes. Its
been a fun and interesting few years.
Mostly I wanted to let you know that
I'll be starting a professorship in
animal behavior at University of Akron
next year. Thanks again for a great
summer of research experience. I will
always remember how amazing it was to
get to work at the Smithsonian!"
To make contact e-mail: todd.blackledge@ucr.edu
February
2004
Susan
Grose
(1995). "I'm off to Nicaragua for
a week, followed by 4 weeks in Mexico
and Guatemala. I'm collecting plants,
of course." To make contact e-mail:
sgrose@u.washington.edu
January
2004
Jocelynn
Johnson
(2003). "I presented my Petrified
Woods Poster at the Western Inter-University
Geological Conference in Vancouver and
won second place in the poster competition.
It generated alot of interest. I'm planning
on presenting it in March at the Astrobiology
conference." To
make contact e-mail: umjoh033@cc.UManitoba.CA
Toccarra
Alexandria Holmes Thomas
(2003) "I hope that your holiday
season and New Year were pleasantly
eventful. I myself had a great time
celebrating during my break and am looking
forward to an exciting year of research
and study, largely in thanks to the
(RTP) opportunity.
Since
the Research Training Program internship
last summer, I have been able to gain
admission into courses that are more
specifically geared toward my interest,
such as my ethnographic film course,
which happens to be a senior seminar.
I also was able to obtain a position
as a student assistant in the school's
museum, working in the prints and photograph
department, studying them from an anthropological
perspective. In addition to that job,
I will be assisting Professor Nancy
Mithlo by cataloguing her films that
a group of which she was chair, Native
American Arts Alliance, featured in
the Venice Biennales over the past few
years. All of these opportunities were
offered to me in response to the admiration
each sponsor or advisor had for the
training and experiences that one can
gain from a program such as RTP.
Regardless
of my relatively new study and work
in the field of visual anthropology,
they believe that I was prepared enough
due to my participation in the program
to take me under their wing. In my effort
to continue doing exciting work and
grow in my field of study, Professor
Mithlo suggested a provocative project
for me to embark on during my one semester
stay in South Africa next academic year.
Being that my interest in anthropology
is on visual representations of cultures
throughout the African Diaspora, she
suggested that I obtain one or two ethnographic
tapes from the Smithsonian Human Studies
Film Archives and present them to civilian
South Africans and South African artist.
This would be done to solicit responses
on how they feel about how they are
represented in films held by the leading
research institution in American. Their
responses would be documented through
film and a copy would be given to be
included in the archives by request
of the curator." To make contact
e-mail: tthomas@email.smith.edu
Danielle
Royer
(2003). "I've recently finished
my first semester of grad school. It
went rather well, I think, and now I
quite like my department. My trip to
Kenya was great! The 2 weeks went by
so quickly, that it seemed like as soon
as I had arrived I had to leave again
and suddenly I was at Stony Brook!
I
had the honor of having another RTP
alumnus as one of my dissection partners
last semester! Any guesses? It was Andy
Farke, RTP Class of 2000.
He just started his doctoral degree
in paleontology in the Anatomy Dept.
here at Stony Brook University. And,
he got married this past summer! Ah,
small world isn't it!" To
make contact e-mail: palaeolithic_lady@hotmail.com
Elisa
Maldonado (2000)
Torsten (Dikow. RTP Class of '00) came
to visit me in CA over the holidays.
I thought our RTP friends would be interested
in our visit.
"Torsten and his girlfriend Stephanie
were in Los Angeles visiting Stephanie's
family for the holidays. On Monday (Dec.
29) Torsten and I met up at the Natural
History Museum where I have been doing
research for a long time. I showed him
the Echinoderm collection, after enjoying
an authentic Mexican lunch at historic
Olvera Street. Torsten ate his first
Tamales, which are traditionally eaten
around Christmas. On Tuesday, all of
us drove down to San Diego separately
and met up at the San Diego harbor.
I am doing volunteer whale watching
for Birch Aquarium at Scripps (December
thru March is the California Gray Whale
migration), and Torsten and Stephanie
joined my first trip. Luckily, we saw
up to five California grey whales, numerous
Pacific white-sided dolphins, and California
sea lions. It was both of their first
times going whale watching. After the
trip, we explored the Gaslamp Quarter
and had hot chocolate. Later, we went
to a small taco shop recommended by
my friend where Torsten and Stephanie
both tried Carne Asada (grilled steak)
burritos for the first time! We all
left San Diego on Wednesday. Torsten
and Stephanie stayed longer than I to
visit the San Diego Zoo. They left for
New York on January 3rd."
Message
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