Quote of the Week

"I saw a corpse!. It was mushy." - Skye Chang

Fishes Lecture

Students gathered in the Carolyn Rose Seminar Room for their first RTP lecture: "The Greatest Fish Story Ever Told: the discovery of the coelacanth and the science behind this amazing fish" which was presented by collection manager, Susan Jewett.

The Coelacanth Lecture

Despite an avid interest in herps, Miguel Fernandez was fascinated by the coelacanth lecture and decided to add further details and notes to the lecture handouts.

The Coelacanth Lecture

Following the lecture, students Nancy Price (left) and Abby Moore (middle) were given the opportunity to examine a model of a newborn coelacanth with speaker, Susan Jewett (right), pointing to the fine details.

Pic of the Day

Fishes Tour

Join Brittany Meagher and the rest of the RTP group on a tour of the U.S. National Fish Collection.

Fishes Tour

The U.S. National Fish Collection includes some 8 million specimens, including facinating species from around the world. Some of the most interesting specimens are gathered together in the "OH MY" cabinet.

Fishes Tour

stone fish

Fishes Tour

Scientific discovery is often the unanticipated result of unexpected acts, as one ichthyologist discovered. Out of collecting bags, he stuffed a fish related to this one into his swim trunks for safe keeping. Looking innocent enough, this group of fishes was discovered to produce interesting, irritating (VERY irritating) compounds when confined (such as when stuffed in one's swim trunks). The chemical irritant was isolated and is named "grammistin" after this subfamily of fishes, the Grammistinae.

Fishes Tour

Pickled tuna, museum style.

Fishes Tour

In the dark depths of the deep ocean, fish have adapted some interesting methods to survive. To lure prey, the angler fish dangles a fleshy appendage above its' mouth. The black glob attached to her side, however, is her male companion. Once a male angler fish finds a female, he latches on for life and is almost completely absorbed becoming not much more than a small dark lump on her side. Quotes tour host Jeff Williams "males are nothing but a head and gonads." We're pretty sure he was talking about the male angler fish.

Fishes Tour

One method of studying the skeletal structure of specimens, such as fish, is to chemically clear the soft tissue and then stain the bone and cartilage. Called "cleared and stained" these specimens are not only scientifically valuable, but also can be quite beautiful.

Fishes Tour

Enjoying the tour of fishes, ichthyologist Mandy Cass holds one of the cleared and stained fish specimens.

Fishes Tour

Fishes Tour

Susan Jewett (right) explains the clearing and staining method to anthropology students Danielle Royer (left) and Skye Chang (middle).

Fishes Tour

A tour of the fish collection isn't complete without a chance to see the coelacanth. Delighted, as always, to share her enthusiasm for the fish collection, Susan Jewett reaches in the coelacanth tank to point out the unique characters of this living fossil fish and provide each student the opportunity to touch for themselves.

Fishes Tour

The coelacanth tank.

Fishes Tour

The skin of a shark is uniquely textured. You can read about it in books, learn about it in lectures, talk about it all day but as Beth Bollwerk can confirm, the best part of RTP events is the opportunity to examine up close, see, touch, feel and study the objects for yourself.

Fishes Tour

Jocelynn Johnson and Nancy Price

Lunch in the ARC

Lunch in the ARC doesn't always feature such yummy desserts but good company and chances to meet other interns is almost always guaranteed.

Pic of the Day

Library Orientation

RTP and other NMNH interns gathered in the ARC during lunch for a overview of the Smithsonian Library system. These happy smiling faces belong to Beth Bollwerk, Toccarra Thomas, Dalia Palchik and Skye Chang.

Vertebrate Zoology Lecture

Vertebrate Zoology Day began with a classic lecture by Roy McDiarmid (center),: "The Lost World: cerro de la Neblina".

While it's the highest peek out side the Andes, shrouded in mist and isolated from civilization, it wasn't "discovered" until 1955. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle certainly featured Neblina's tepui neighbor, Roirama, in his famous book, "The Lost World."

Intrigued by what they might find on the unexplored, isolated, and ancient mountain, during the mid-1980's Roy lead groups of scientists to the mountain tepui, Neblina to collect museum specimens and survey the biological and geological features of the region.

RTP interns Miguel Fernandez (left) and Raul Diaz (right) weren't the only ones eager to meet Roy (center) and hear his stories of the Neblina expeditions, but as students with a focus on herpetology, Miguel and Raul watched in hope of someday leading similar teams back to the tepui region for further exploration.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

What better way to start the tour of the Amphibians and Reptiles fluid-preserved specimen collection than with an introduction to a real life ecological villain - the brown tree snake.

The Brown Tree Snake (Boiga irregularis) is a member of the family Colubridae and is native to costal Australia and the Solomon Islands. It was accidentally introduced on the island of Guam about 1952 and has since caused serious ecological and economic damage.

The snakes probably arrived on Guam from Papua New Guinea sometime during the 1950's as part of passive stowaway in military cargo. In the absence of natural predators and other population controls the snake population exploded. In some areas the population counts more than 12,000 snakes per square mile. Since the snake's accidental introduction into the Guam ecosystem, most of Guam's native vertebrates have either become endangered or disappeared from the Island. The snake virtually wiped out the native forest birds of Guam. Nine species of birds, some found nowhere else, have disappeared and the rest are near extinction. Snakes crawling on electrical lines frequently cause power outages and damage electrical units on the Island. The snake is arboreal and nocturnal, but aggressive and mildly poisonous. It kills its prey by chewing to inject the venom. Attracted to the smell of birth, it can be found in the cribs of babies having crawled in through the plumbing in houses. The Smithsonian houses a large collection of brown tree snake specimens representing a good cross section of the population spanning geography, age, and time, thereby documenting the adaptations underway.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The National Collection of Amphibians and Reptiles is among the largest and most important herpetological collections in the world, consisting of more than one-half million specimens and many thousands of type specimens.

Although working this summer in mammals with Don Wilson, a herpetologist at heart, Miguel Fernandez, was eager to see as many specimens as possible during the one hour tour.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The snake collection includes over 50,000 specimens. Specimens are stored in 70% ETOH.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The herps collection also includes about 13,000 dry specimens such as these turtle bones.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Like fishes, cleared and stained amphibian and reptile specimens provide valuable diagnostic information to scientists studying the skeletal structures of species. Miguel Fernandez holds one of the cleared and stained lizards.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The division includes about 3,600 cleared and stained specimens. Jocelynn Johnson examines one of them.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

There are over 140,000 frog lots in the collection.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Steve Gotte with Conraua goliath a frog from Cameroon, West Africa. The largest frog known to science.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Conraua goliath

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Surrounded by science, but never far from the magic.

We wonder: "just how many frogs do you have to kiss before you finally find your prince?" exclaims Jen Maloney as she holds a collection jar containing specimens of the new object of our affection, Oreophrynella quelchii - the frog Roy McDiarmid studied in graduate school, that proved why field work is ever so important to graduate investigation.

Things aren't always what they seem.

Using only specimens available in museums, as a graduate student Roy speculated that the strange opposable toes of the frog were for grasping vegetation. However, years later, when he was able to venture to the tepui region of Venezuela and had the chance to observe Oreophrynella in its' habitat, it became clear that the opposable toes were for clinging on slippery rock surfaces.

Oreophrynella is a small frog, and was previously known from a single specimen discovered by the first scientists who came to the south side of Roraima tepui in 1898.

The small Oreophrynella is even more ancient than the dinosaurs, and, curiously, it is more closely related to African species than any in South America. These frogs may have been here for many millions of years, since the time when the Tepuis were joined together as one massif plateau. As a frog, it has certain primitive characteristics: it can neither hop nor swim, but it does have special adaptations that help it to survive on the tepuis including opposable toes.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Basiliscus plumifrons also known as the Jesus Christ Lizard because it's ability to run acorss water. Thi scute creature is also the subject of Raul Diaz's summer research project.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

A far leap from bugs, this large frog still caught the attention of Stephanie Johnson.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The division currently has about 550,000 catalog records with the oldest specimen dating to a 1834 collection.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The cleared and stained collection consists mostly of small and/or fragile specimens that would be damaged or disarticulated in the process of making dry skeletal preparations. For the last 15 years most of our C&S specimens have been prepared using a double staining technique that stains the bones red and some types of cartilage blue.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

Snake skins.

Amphibians & Reptiles Tour

The "wet" collection is stored in 70% ethanol (EtOH) and is by far the largest component of the NMNH amphibian and reptile collection. Wet specimens were originally stored in ground glass jars and ceramic crocks. Now small specimens are stored in screw-top flint-glass jars with polypropylene lids or canning-style bailtop jars with synthetic gaskets such as the one Danielle Royer is viewing. Large specimens are stored in stainless steel tanks.

Skye's Project

Skye's project: The discovery of a cast iron casket held the remains of an 1862 civil war soldier.

Skye's Project

Skye Chang holds the mandible of a civil war soldier.

Skye's Project

For one week scientists from around the world gathered in the NMNH Conservation Lab to learn about the unknown civil war soldier buired in the cast iron casket. Before rebuiral, RTP interns had the chance to learn about him also.

Skye's Project

Jocelynn Johnson studies the femur bones, particularly intrigued by the white substance formed as a result of interaction with water.

Skye's Project

Chip Clark, scientific photographer, documented every step of the investigation.

Skye's Project

Skye Chang poses next to the cast iron coffin. For the next nine weeks Skye will work to synthesize the information gathered and then present the results as part of her poster presentation.

Skye's Project

In addition to bone, items of clothing were recoved and studied. Danielle Royer gazes at the clothing.

Skye's Project

The boots

Mammals Tour

The National Museum of Natural History houses one of the most important collections of mammals in the world. With roughly 580,000 voucher specimens, it is by far the world's largest, nearly twice the size of the next largest mammal collections. RTP students join Jeremy Jacobs on a tour of the collections housed on the mall. A tour of the mammals collections at the Museum Support Center is planned for next week.

Mammals Tour

The mammals tour began with the monotremes, those egg-laying mammals from Australia, including the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus).

Mammals Tour

On to the marsupials. We tend to think of marsupials as only being found in Australia, but these mouse possums are native to Central and South America.

Mammals Tour

All that remains to science are museum specimens of Thylacinus cynocephalus, commonly called the Tasmanian tiger-wolf, it was neither a wolf or a tiger, but it a marsupial.

The Tasmanian tiger-wolf became extinct on the mainland of Australia long ago because it could not compete for food with an introduced species, the dingo. Tiger-wolves continued to thrive on the dingo-free island of Tasmania until settlers began clearing the tiger-wolf's habitat for sheep farming. Habitat destruction reduced the natural prey available to tiger-wolves.

With its natural prey base reduced, the tiger-wolf began to kill domestic sheep for food and the farmers mounted a campaign to destroy these carnivores who were preying on their livestock. In the mid-1800's, landowners paid a bounty for killing tiger-wolves, and the government introduced an even larger bounty in 1888. The programs were quite successful and the tiger-wolf was poisoned, shot, snared, hunted with dogs, trapped, and otherwise exterminated through the early 1900s.

An unknown disease decimated the remaining population in 1910. By 1933 it was believed that the species had become extinct in the wild. In 1936, the last known Tasmanian tiger-wolf died in captivity. Although the species is believed extinct, reports of tiger-wolves in the wild continue but none have been confirmed or vouchered. So far, Thylacinus cynocephalus remains a wraith.

Mammals Tour

There are some 1,500 different species of bats. In going through the collections, we found something for everyone.

Mammals Tour

Museum specimens are treated with many nasty chemicals to aid in their long-term preservation. In addition, touching and handling specimens can damage them so interaction is limited. However, to truely appreciate some the great natural adaptive traits, you just have to touch, as in the needle-sharp incisors of a vampire bat.

Vampire bats use their sharp incisors to make a small cut in the skin of an animal and then drink the blood that flows freely from the cut, thanks in-part to the special compounts found in the bat's saliva that has anti-coagulating properties.

Mammals Tour

Over half of the bat species use echolocation to capture prey and navigate through the darkness of night. To aid in echolocation, big eared bats are common, especially in the microchiropterans.

Mammals Tour

A tray of hampsters. Same species, color variation.
Smiling faces, Beth Bollwerk and Skye Chang.

Mammals Tour

Dalia Palchik admires the collection.

Mammals Tour

Gorilla skull

Mammals Tour

RTP brains
Jen Maloney, Beth Bollwerk, and Mandy Cass

Mammals Tour

Pickled bats

Mammals Tour

Nancy Price holds a fluid-preserved specimen.

Mammals Tour

Mammal specimens are also sometimes cleared and stained so as to study the skeletal articulation of bone.

Mammals Tour

Jen Maloney examines one of the fluid preserved marine mammal specimens.

Mammals Tour

Housed in the basement are some of the marine mammal collections, including these skulls.

Mammals Tour

Jeremy Jacobs with fluid collection, elephant.

Pic of the Day

Mammals Tour

As part of the Mammals tour, Elisa Maldonado (left) and Danielle Royer (right) particularly enjoyed the opportunity to view some of the special collections housed behind-the-scenes.

Mammals Tour

Nancy Price puts the couches in the ARC to good use.
The end of a long RTP day.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

NMNH paleobiologist, Dave Bohaska (left) lead a group of 10 RTP students plus program assistant Elisa Maldonado on a tour of his research site at Scientists Cliffs in Calvert County, Maryland.

Dave's research focuses on fossil marine mammals and this site features deposits from the Miocene Epoch, 25 million to 6.5 million years ago. The day was cloudy and on the cool side but the scattered rain didn't dampen spirits - too much. The forecasted heavy winds and thunderstorms with possible hail stay away and we even saw the sun peek out before the end of the day.

Joining the tour, pictured above (left to right) Dave Bohaska, Elisa Maldonado, Stephanie Johnson, Jocelynn Johnson, Nancy Price, Toccarra Thomas, Abby Moore, Skye Chang, Beth Bollwerk, Mandy Cass, Dalia Palchik, and Daielle Royer (plus ever camera shy photographer and Program Director, Mary Sangrey and her husband Stan Yankowski).

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

The Chestnut Cabin served as field trip home-base for the day.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

The Chestnut Cabin is located on the hill overlooking the cliffs and Chesapeak Bay. The museum in the basement provides a great orientation to the site and educational hsitory of the cliffs.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Field trip leader, Dave Bohaska.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Before and after walking the beach Dave (center) provides insight into the formation of the cliffs and the variety of fossils they hold. More than 600 species of fossils have been identified from these cliffs including the Maryland State Fossil, Ecphora garderae garderae Wilson.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Maryland State Fossil, Ecphora garderae garderae Wilson, an extinct gastropod (snail). This fossil snail was one of the first fossils from the New World to be illustrated and published in the scientific literature, dating to about 1770. It was officially named Maryland's state fossil 1 October 1994.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Located on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay, the "Calvert Cliffs" were formed over 15 million years ago when Southern Maryland was covered by a warm, shallow sea. The cliffs dominate the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay extending for more than 30 miles; from Fairhaven in Anne Arundel County to Drum Point in Calvert County.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

The most visible fossils at the site are the mollusk shells. Fragments of fossil bone are also abundant and fossil wood is easy to identify in matrix but by far the most popular, students comb the shore line looking for the fossil sharks' teeth.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Dave Bohaska (left) helps Jocelynn Johnson (center) learn what to look for while sign language interpreter Abby Anderson (right) signs the details for Jocelynn to understand.

Pic of the Day

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Mandy Cass (left) and Stephanie Johnson (right) compare fossil finds.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

She heads to graduate school in the fall at Scripps to study marine biology, but while excited to locate many extant and fossil sea creatures, on this day, like everybody else, program assistant Elisa Maldonado has her hopes up for finding big sharks' teeth. And she comes through with the find of a, although fragmented, specimen of a great white shark, Carcharodon megalodon.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Jocelynn Johnson evaluates her fossil finds.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Toccarra Thomas

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

After a couple hours of walking the site, students gather back at the Chestnut Cabin for lunch and to compare their finds. Discoveries today include shells, ray teeth, fossil bone, sand dollar fragments, a fossil crocodile tooth, and of course sharks' teeth. Most abundant today were the ray teeth.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Above is the jaw of a modern cow-nosed ray, Rhinoptera sp. Note the crushing dentition, due mainly to a diet of mollusks, and the continual replacement of teeth. Below are some of the fossil ray teeth discovered. Most are from the spotted eagle ray, Aetobatus sp.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

A variety of finds, including a Mako Shark tooth, Isurus hastalis, (lower right).

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

More finds including a complete Spotted Eagle Ray tooth, Aetobatus sp. (far left) and Requien Shark tooth, Carcharhinus sp. (upper center).

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

While interested in the fossils at the site, geologists Jocelynn Johnson was most excited to find examples of serpentine rock, exclaiming "we don't have these in Manitoba!"

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

Botanist Abby Moore carefully studied the paleobiology of the location but couldn't help but breakout her botanical guides to try to identify the pretty yellow flowered buttercup, Ranunculus sp., growing in the lawn and admire the Eastern deciduous trees abundant at the site, but unfamiliar to her Utah home.

Scientists Cliffs Field Trip

The field trip concluded about 1:00 p.m. and most students headed home to rest in anticipation of another busy RTP week ahead.

Invertebrate Zoology Lecture

Elisa Maldonado (left) takes the opportunity to pose for a photo with her former RTP advisor, Dave Pawson, after the Invertebrate Zoology lecture.

Invertebrate Zoology Lecture

Dave Pawson talks about the elusive giant squid during his lecture on 'Life in the Great Ocean Depths.'

Invertebrate Zoology Lecture

Dave Pawson, Senior Scientist at the NMNH, fields questions in the Rose Anthropology Seminar Room from the RTP students about his research on deep-sea Echinoderms (sea cucumbers, sea urchins, and relatives).

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Stephen Cairns, Curator of Corals, holds a hard coral while talking about his research.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Kristian Fauchald, Curator of Polychaetes, examines a specimen as he talks about the NMNH worm collection.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Dalia Palchik takes a look at, what looks like dirt, under the microscope and in a jar, but what are actually Bob Hershler's (Curator of Mollusks) research subjects, VERY tiny freshwater snails.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Nancy Price and Brittany Meagher are stunned by the beauty of a basket star in the Echinoderms (starfish and allies) collection.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Specimens of the starfish genus Luidia in the Echinoderms collection.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

Ghostly crabs in the Crustacea collection.

Invertebrate Zoology Tour

"Oh, my" specimens set out by collections manager, Cindy Ahearn for her talk on Echinoderms.

Birds Tour

The Division of Birds houses and maintains the third largest bird collection in the world with over 600,000 specimens and has representatives of about 80% of the approximately 9,600 known species in the world's avifauna. While the majority of these specimens consists of study skins, skeletal and anatomical (alcohol preserved) collections are also included.

Birds Tour

Birds of prey kill with their talons and the champion in talon size is the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja). A powerful predator, it can be found mainly from Southern Mexico to Central South America. Lesley Gregoricka holds a specimen of Harpy Eagle talons preserved in alcohol.

Birds Tour

She was the last of her kind. Brittany Meagher and Mandy Cass hold the fluid preserved body of "Martha" the passenger pigeon, now preserved for all time as part of the Smithsonian collections. Her skin was prepared as a taxidermy mount (see further below).

The last legitimate record of a wild Passenger Pigeon was recorded in 1900 in Ohio. A few individuals lingered on into the early part of the century in captivity. In 1909 the Cincinnati Zoological Gardens had the three remaining birds, two males and a female. By 1910 only the female remained, affectionately called Martha, after the wife of George Washington, the first president and "father" of the United States. On 1 September 1914, at 1:00 in the afternoon, Martha died at the age of 29. She arrived at the Smithsonian in a block of ice having traveled across country, perhaps the last journey across the US of the passenger pigeon.

Birds Tour

To see examples of a wide variety of birds, eggs, and nests the "OH MY" collection was displayed on the counter for RTP students to study.

Pictured abve (left to right) Jen Maloney, Beth Bollwerk, Dalia Palchik, Lesley Gregoricka, Skye Chang, and our sign language interpreter for the day - with hands "a-blurr" busily trying to translate the presentation, and challenging scientific lingo, for RTP intern, Jocelynn Johnson.

Birds Tour

Chris Milensky (right) hosted the birds tour.

Birds Tour

Each tray told a different story.

Birds Tour

Here Chris Melinsky describes some of the interesting nests constructed by different birds. This is a nest of the tailor bird, known for using thin grass fragments to "sew" together large leaves in order to build a nest inside.

Birds Tour

The tiny eggs and nest of a hummingbird.

Birds Tour

Egg shape and markings have evolved based on where nests are located. Being mainly tree cavity nesters, the eggs of owls are round and unmarked. These eggs of the common murre are patterned and asymmetrical, with one end strongly pointed. Can you guess why?

Birds Tour

The showing of color from a birds feathers is very different from the pigmentation of other animals, such as color seen in reptiles and fish. In birds the color is structural and many male birds have evolved strong and striking color patterns.

Birds Tour

Bird color patterns can change when proceeding from juvenile to adult and during annual molt, as evidence here by the variation in the Scarlet Tanager.

Birds Tour

They may look alike but these are three distinct species.

Birds Tour

Eggs, nests and examples of Bergmanns rule of body size.

All the birds in the lower tray are the same species, just collected in different localities, with the larger ones native to colder, more northern regions and the smaller ones found in southern, warmer locations.

Birds Tour

There are currently about 309 different species of pigeons and doves, but outside museums, no longer can you find the one on the right, a passenger pigeon. This is the taxidermy mount (skin only) of "Martha" - the last passenger pigeon.

Pic of the Day

Birds Tour

RTP students had a very busy Monday touring the Invertebrate Zoology collections AND Bird collections. Miguel Fernandez was delighted to be able to see and hold a specimen of this very beautiful, but very endangered Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis).

Birds Tour

Blue and Yellow Macaws

Birds Tour

The male common peacock has an anything but a common tail, which he uses for display to attract females. That's Chris Milensky on the left. The peacock is the one on the right.

Birds Tour

Chris Melinsky holds up a Quetzal - a bird known from the cloud forests of Central America. It's considered one of the most beautiful birds due to the bright plumage of the males, exceptionally long tail coverts, and bristlelike crest.

Collections Management Lunch

RTP tour leaders and collection managers gathered with students in the ARC for lunch (PIZZA!) to discuss how the NMNH maintains the 124 million specimens that make up the U.S, National natural history collections of the Smithsonian.

Staff joining the lunch discussion included: Steve Gotte (herps), Greg McKee (botany), Susan Jewett (fishes), Barbara Littman (IZ), Jeff Williams (fishes), Dave Hunt (anthropology) and Linda Welzenbach (meteorites)

Collections Management Lunch

Topics covered during the lunch discussion included opinions about sharing specimen locality data, things to remember when visiting the collections, and what audience museum collections serve.

Museum Support Center Tour

NMNH interns gather in the hall of the Smithsonian Museum Support Center (MSC) before being treated to a special behind-the-scenes tour of the Mammals and Anthropology collections.

From left to right: (back) Bonnie Grysko, Melissa Gold, Jocelynn Johnson, Toccarra Thomas, Dalia Palchik, Danielle Royer, Miguel Fernandez; (front) Skye Chang, Beth Bollwerk, and Lesley Gregoricka.

Museum Support Center Tour

The interns took a moment to learn about Lesley Gregoricka's (red shirt) project for the summer: "CSI: sheep" that will include piecing together the skeletons of numerous sheep, goats, and cows that were mysteriously found in an unidentified box in the Museum's attic.

Museum Support Center Tour

Where did the bones come from? Can Lesley match each part to piece together individual specimens? The task is a challenge!

A closer view of the MANY little pieces that make up Lesley Gregoricka's summer research project.

Museum Support Center Tour

Who knows how long this crate waited, hidden in the Museum's attic? Found recently, it has no label and held thousands of disjointed bones of numerous animal skeletons. Will Lesley be able to solve the mystery? Stay tuned! Results will be presented on-line Thursday, 24 July 2003 as part of our virtual poster session - join us then and be sure to check out Lesley's poster.

Museum Support Center Tour

Stored "off-the-mall" are many of the large mammal collections, and their parts.Thinking they'd seen it all after touring the mammals liquid collection, Dalia Palchik, Toccarra Thomas, and Skye Chang stand in awe as Jeremy Jacobs (far right) pulls out another "little" surprise - a sea lion baculum.

Museum Support Center Tour

Lions!

Museum Support Center Tour

. . . and Tigers!

Museum Support Center Tour

. . . and Panda Bears - OH MY!

Museum Support Center Tour

Jeremy promised to mix the science with the extraordinary for the MSC tour. Sure enough, he came through!

Skye Chang, Dalia Palchik (front), Toccarra Thomas, and Beth Bollwerk (back) pose next to two male moose skulls. The moose died together when their antlers got tangled after fighting over a female. It's amazing what some animals will do for love!

Museum Support Center Tour

Museums like the Smithsonian are most interested in specimens that are representative of the taxon, not oddities. However, some strange specimens have been accessioned and are part of the collections. Here, a one-eyed baby cow. It came from an egg that had not completely divided. Notice that this specimen also has two jaws.

Museum Support Center Tour

Some specimens are famous for who collected them. The Smithsonian African Expedition acquired many specimens from east Africa (1909-1911), some of which were collected by former President Theodore Roosevelt.

This is a label from an elephant skull that was signed and dated by the collector and former president, Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt.

Museum Support Center Tour

With thoughts of Africa looming, Danielle Royer excitedly poses with a stuffed giraffe head. Although political uncertainties have postponed her expected travel to Kenya, and changed her research project a bit, the expedition is now planned for the two weeks following the conclusion of RTP this summer. Thus, in August, on to Africa, we hope.

In addition to studying spatial distribution of stone tools, stone tool raw materials, and faunal remains excavated from Olorgesailie (a Pleistocene site in southern Kenya), Danielle is hoping to see live giraffes and other megafauna when she travels to Africa.

Pic of the Day

Museum Support Center Tour

Don't mess with Jocelynn!

In addition to the RTP, the NMNH hosts many other interns through a variety of different programs and initiatives. A total of 102 interns are now in-residence at NMNH with more to arrive in the next few weeks. Special events, tours, socials, and lunch discussions are offered for all NMNH interns to learn more about the Museum and explore the research and collections behind-the-scenes. Today interns had the opportunity to travel to the Museum Support Center in Silver Hill, Maryland to tour the off-the-mall collections storage including large mammals and anthropology ethnology collections.

With all these new interns arriving daily, competition for space and time (especially around the m&m basket) has gotten fierce. Only the most resourceful survive. Clearly Jocelynn Johnson will prevail!

Museum Support Center Tour

In addition to the large mammals, students also got a chance to see the anthropology collection at MSC. Here they walk down an isle with rows and rows of spears used by natives from all over the world.

Museum Support Center Tour

Colorful masks from Thailand.

Botany Lecture

Botany day began with a lecture by section head W. John Kress (pink shirt), whose research focuses on the Zingiberales, including Bananas, Heliconias, Gingers and their relatives.

Botany Tour

A herbarium is, essentially, a library of plants and plant information. Herbarium specimens are mainly pressed, dried plant specimens which are mounted on acid free sheets of 11 x 17 inch paper, each with a unique number. Specimens are typically arranged in a phylogenetic sequence to facilitate finding individuals.

There are currently about 4.67 million specimens in the Smithsonian's U.S. National Herbarium, making it one of the largest herbaria in the world.

Botany Tour

Although pressed and mounted specimens dominate the botany collection, not everything can be reduced to flat 11 x 17 sheets. Bamboo specimens, for example, consist of multiple parts, including "bulky" collections that are stored in large tray cabinets.

If you missed seeing the bamboos, ask Mary for a private tour - they're her favorite!

Botany Tour

Greg McKee, Museum Specialist in charge of "the plants without flowers", led the RTP group on a plant exploration through the collections including a viewing of lichens.

Botany Tour

A rare treat, students were allowed to open cabinets in the herbarium to review the organization and learn the methods for finding examples of specific taxa.

Botany Tour

The oldest plant specimen in the U.S. National Herbarium is a member of the Scrophulariaceae. It was collected sometime between 1594 and 1598 by Gaspard Bauhin. Note the pre-Linnaen use a Latin binomial on the label!

Following the tradition of the herbalists, Bauhin classified plants on the basis of texture and form. However, Bauhin was one of the first to distinguish nomenclaturally between generic name and specific epithet (species). Thus, the binary nomenclature, normally attributed to Linnaeus, was actually founded by Bauhin more than a century before it's use by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum.

Botany Tour

The world's smallest fern, discovered by Greg McKee.

Botany Tour

We found Nemo!
A scene from the Disney movie "Finding Nemo"? No, just the algae tank, illustrating that not all 124 million specimens in the Museum are dead.

Botany Tour

Dalia Palchik (do you see her ghostly image behind the algae?) examines the "algae greenhouse" a tank containing field collected specimens of algae, many awaiting species description. Almost a complete self-contained ecosystem, the tank does not require a separate filtration system, rather, the different species of algae do all of the work!

Botany Tour

Beth Bollwerk, Brittany Meagher, and Jennifer Maloney enjoy the tour.

Botany Tour

Amid the cabinets and piles of specimens is the "Botany Best" collection, an assemblage of some interesting plants and plant stories especially compiled for behind-the-scenes tours. Greg McKee (far right) shows the RTP students some of these interesting specimens.

Botany Tour

One of the favorites is the world's largest seed, commonly called "Coco de Mer"* which is French for coconut of the sea, but better known in the herbaium by it's scientific name, Lodoicea callipyge Comm. and as a member of the Palmae (palm family). These palms are native to the Seychelle Islands off the coast of Africa.

* Note: while most may call this palm Coco de Mer, RTP groups have traditionally called this the "Butt Nut" and been more intrigued by it's strange characteristics than it's call to fame as the largest seed.

Botany Tour

Can you guess the weight of the world's heaviest seed? RTP students each entered a guess but it was Miguel Fernandez who came the closest.

Botany Tour

Is that Greg McKee continuing his behind-the-scenes tour in the herbarium? Nope. That's a photo image of Greg and the herabrium, along with some interesting specimens currently on display as part of the temporary exhibit "A Passion for Plants: botanical art from the Shirley Sherwood Collection." The exhibit includes a selection from the 460 contemporary botanical works of art compiled by Shirley Sherwood representing some 185 artists from over 27 countries. Don't miss the exhibit (it closes 2 Sep 03) and be sure to stay long enough to view the entire slide show. How many staff from Botany can you identify from the images flashing by? Did you spot Mary?

Botany Social

After lunch, Botany hosted an informal dessert social for students to meet members from the Botany community. The social was held in the Chairman's Office and Bob Faden (light blue shirt) served as host.

Botany Social

Presentation of the fare at the social.

Botany Social

Debbie Bell sampling the "sangria" punch.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Stan Yankowski, histology lab manager, hosted a demonstration of plant histology techniques followed by a hands-on workshop. Included in the demonstrations, use of the rotary microtome. Embedded in paraffin, the first sections of Commelina nairobiensis "ribbons" appear having been sliced off in micron thin sections by a razor blade knife.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Research wood slides prepared for light microscopy were part of those viewed by students joining the workshop.

The histology lab uses a variety of equipment to section specimens including a freezing microtome and sliding microtome, especially useful for wood sections.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

"One of the greatest American works on trees and woods" was compiled between 1888 and 1913 by Romeyn B. Hough; it includes over a thousand mounted wood sections, unique from an ecological standpoint, and of great interest to students of American furniture and woodcrafts.

Yale University has imaged for the web 11 of the 14 Hough volumes. Check it out at:
http://inky.library.yale.edu/hough/

Also, the NC State website has all 14 volumes imaged:
http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/forestry/hough/

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Skye Chang holds one of the paper-thin Hough veneers.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

More examples of cleared and stained specimens, this time from botany. Wholemounts and photographic slides. Colorful exhibits of botanical research.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Raul Diaz, facinated with polarized light microscopy and calcium oxalate crystals in Bufforestia candolleana. The slide is of a leaf paradermal section prepared by Miranda Kahn, RTP Class of '89.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Abby Moore hostess of "Botany Day" studies a slide of Callisia repens in phase contrast microscopy.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

An RTP "workshop" means students get to try the techniques! Raul Diaz was anxious to section using the rotary microtome, and quickly caught on producing this slide of C. nairobiensis.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Once the sectioned ribbons are organized on a slide, the paraffin is melted away and a cover slip applied to preserve the sections for study.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

One of 393 serial sectioned slides of Bellucia costancensis - a member of the Melastomataceae - from the floral reference collection in the U.S. National Herbarium, which currently includes serial sections of flowers representing 124 different plant families.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

While Raul sectioned, Skye Chang, a natural in the lab, worked on preparing wholemount clearings.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

A whole mount clearing uses a cleared and stained specimen, usually of a leaf, in this case, Siderasis fuscata.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

A variety of examples of finished histology specimens including whole mount clearings and serial sections.

Pic of the Day

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

There were very few RTP students who elected to join the histology workshop but those that did enjoyed their time and learned a lot, including some interesting "on the side" stories about how histological techniques have been used to help solve some botanical mysteries.

Holding the mystery wood from the Ilha da Trindade are Bob Faden, Stan Yankowski, Nancy Price, Raul Diaz, and Skye Chang.

"Out in the South Atlantic some 1,500 kilometers east by north from Rio de Janeiro, a volcano top called Trindade juts above the sea." . . . "Sailing ships shunned Trindade's ironbound shore unless they lacked water for drinking or wood for the stoves. There was wood aplenty, too, for the steep slopes bore thousands of trees, by all accounts trees of one kind only. Before 1821, however, something or some event had killed them - killed them all - leaving a weird landscape of standing corpses. It was, in the words of one who saw it, a forest of desolation, as if nature had at some particular moment ceased to vegetate." - - to read more: Eyde, R.H. and S.L. Olson. 1983. "The dead trees of Ilha da Trindade" Bartonia 49: 32-51.

But what were the trees and what killed them?
Enter Smithsonian scientists Richard Eyde, plant anatomist, and ornithologist Storrs Olson. With nothing remaining but dead stumps, how could the trees be identified? Using histological comparisons of the wood the tree was identified as Colubrina glandulosa, a member of the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae). As to what killed them, you'll have to go to the library and read the article (I'll never tell). A copy of the article is also available in the ARC.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

The wood section that solved the mystery of the identity of the dead trees of Ilha da Trindade.

Histology Demonstration & Workshop

Another interesting botanical mystery solved in Smithsonian labs through plant taxonomy, understanding nomenclatural relatedness, and histology - the story of the Yew and the anticancer drug taxol.

Plant Pressing & Mounting Demonstration

Botany collection manager, Rusty Russell joined Debbie Bell to further explain collection management issues in botany.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Botanical scientific illustrator, Alice Tangerini explaines the processes she uses to produce a scientific illustration.

Scientific illustration differs from traditional works of art in that exact representation is most important, not artistic creativity. A botanical scientific illustration typically consists of a drawing of the habit of the plant along with dissections of floral parts, most enlarged 2X to 50X. Floral dissections include the corolla (petals), calyx (sepals), stamens, pistil, ovary, fruit, and seeds.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Displayed from dried herbarium specimen to published scientific illustration, the steps in-between may surprise you.

Alice first prepares a photocopy - yes a photocopy - of a representative specimen and then, using the photocopy, begins to construct the habit and structure to be illustrated, often tracing the photocopy using clear film (matte acetate).

Next she dissects parts. Using a camera lucida, traces - yes traces - small structures to enlarged size thereby ensuring exact proportions and accurate representation.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Sketches are prepared on see-though film and overlapping sections arranged. The use of translucent film allows the illustrator to view all the overlays and decide what should be blocked out in the inking. Once all the sections are complete and the design decided, the scientist checks the sketches for exact accuracy.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Finally, the plate is inked. The final rendition is done in pen and ink or brush and ink (or a combination of both) on a sheet of clear drafting film taped over the layout.

Alice is famous for her line work illustrations which is especially effective for illustrating new species of monocots. Stippling, a method of multiple dots, is most often used to give form to a figure or to indicate surface texture that is soft.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

The final work is most often reproduced 50% of original size of the illustration.

Botanical scientific illustrations are mainly used in descriptions of new species, but also in monographs and floristic treatments. In a publication of a new species, the drawing accompanies a written description in botanical Latin. The features illustrated must agree exactly to the Latin description. Most illustrations for botanical journals are prepared and published in black and white (pen and ink) because the printing is less expensive. Continuous tone (generally using graphite or wash) may be used when tonal change is need to successfully illustrate the features.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Nancy Price tries the camera lucida.

Scientific Illustration Workshop

After learning the steps and hearing about the techniques, Alice gave everybody their own illustration sketches to ink. Sharing special tips, "It's all in the pivot of the arm and elbow, not hand" comments Alice (far right).

Scientific Illustration Workshop

Miguel Fernendez caught on very quickly and soon produced a very nice, inked scientific illustration.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Collections management staff and today's tour leader, Mark Florence, holds a Stethacanthus; a member of the paraphyletic group called the "symmoriiforms"; an early shark from the Carboniferous; displays a shoulder spine and is included among the largest of the Carboniferous sharks.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

The skull and upper jaw of a mastodon.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

The paleobiology collections include 40 - 50 million specimens representing fossil plants, animals and geologic specimens (rock and sediment cores, and sediment samples). Included are over 1,500 catalogued specimens of dinosaurs. Collection storage is mainly on open shelving for oversize specicems, such as for large dinosaur bones.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Lower jaw of a fossilized crocodilian.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

A bunch of vertebrae in boxes…. fish, early reptiles or marine reptiles. Can you guess which? The style of vertebrae is amphicoelus- the centrum is concave in on the ends - which is characteristic of the above mentioned groups.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

A sabre tooth cat skull. Specifically of Pleistocene aged Smilodon. This large cat preyed mainly on the large mammals, such as primative elephants and rhinos. Biomechanical studies suggest that the cats targeted the throats of their prey where they could better control them.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Students gather around a Triceretops skull.

Back row: Beth Bollwerk, Toccarra Thomas, Stephanie Johnson, Danielle Royer, Mark Florence, Lesely Gregoricka. Front row: Abby Moore and Nancy Price

Pic of the Day

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Paleobiology Day featured many ineresting discoveries. Toccarra Thomas got the chance to hold a fluid preserved specimen of mammoth flesh.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

The collections include many parts of mammoth, including hair, teeth, fluid preserved flesh, blood and even stomach contents.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Dung from Pleistocene giant ground sloth, Nothrotheriops.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Who wouldn't want to crowd around a pile of dung and have their photo taken for posting on the web? RTP interns are SO cooperative of Mary and her photographing (everything)!

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Brittany Meagher, Jen Maloney, Raul Diaz, Mandy Cass and Sky Chang.

Paleobiology Collection Tour

Among many talents, can you guess the RTP intern who is an also expert in Origami? This paper Jurassic creature appeared during the tour of the paleo collections. While it's currently listed as "sp. nov." we anticipate the description and author citation to appear in the RTP literature at any time.

The Burgess Shale

More than 1/2 BILLION years old, the fossils of the Burgess Shale fauna preserve for us an intriguing glimpse of early animal life on Earth. These fossils are named after a Cambrian rock formation (the Burgess Shale) that is located in the western Canadian Rockies. The formation was first discovered in 1909 by Charles D. Walcott, then Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian collections include over 65,000 specimens, the largest collection of these fossils in the world. Tour leader, Liz Valiulis, and Jocelynn Johnson study one of them.

The Burgess Shale

Such an important collection of fossils, Dalia Palchik and Raul Diaz were delighted to be able to examine up close - and hold - Burgess specimens, but also a bit concerned. "What if I drop it?" exclaims Raul.

The Burgess Shale

To understand the importance of the Burgess shale one only need to look at modern groups of organisms and trace their linage back in time. Amid the Burgess shale you'll find many or our ancient relatives.. To learm more about the Burgess Shale visit:
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/shale/pamsci.htm

The Burgess Shale

One of our Burgess Shale favorites, this fearsome-looking beast is the largest known Burgess Shale animal - Anomalocaris canadensis. Some related specimens found in China reach a length of six feet! The giant limbs in front, which resemble shrimp tails, were used to capture and hold its prey. Anomalocaris is one of the most widely distributed of the Burgess Shale animals, and we think this plastic model is also one of the cutest..

The Burgess Shale

What makes Burgess Shale specimens so extraordinary is the detail of preservation. In many cases even soft body parts are evident. Note this specimen was collected by Dr. Walcott himself.

The Burgess Shale

Dalia Palchik and Raul Diaz, now more comfortable holding specimens, cradle a fossil of Ottoia. This creature lived within a U-shaped burrow that it constructed in the substrate.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

After a lunch break students joined Dave Bohaska (far right) on a tour of the Paleo prep labs, including the "Acid Room" where rock matrix is dissolved away to reveal embedded fossils.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Large vats of acetic acid hold specimens, sometimes for years, as the acids slowly disolve away the rock.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

After the acid bath, specimens are thoroughly washed.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Following the acid treatments, fossils are more easily removed with minimal damage to them.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Paleobiologists conducting field work often "jacket" specimens still in matrix by encasing the rock slab in plaster and newspaper or burlap. The jackets are then brought back to the lab. Using fine drills, picks, and dental tools paleobiology specialists, like Steve Jabo, then gently remove the matrix to expose the fossil. Here Steve works on a tapir fossil found in Kazakhstan.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Fred Grady is another staff member in the paleo vertebrate prep lab, here working on more Kazakhstan material, this of a Brontothere.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

In the lab, it's not always just about extracting fossil from matrix. Preparation of acasts of fossils is also an important part. It takes a skilled eye and learned talent to know how to mold, and how many molds, to accurately reproduce specimens.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Here is a mold and cast of Tapir.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Fossil casts are often used for display in exhibits, leaving the fragil specimens safely stored behind-the-scenes. Observing an exhibit cast are (left to right) Lesely Gregoricka, Nancy Price, Raul Diaz, Jun Maloney, Brittany Meagher, and Dave Bohaska.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

A reproduction cast of Phenacodus.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Kissing frogs, kissing dinos, more specifically, Prosaurolophus (duck billed dino). So how many dinos does a girl need to kiss before she finds her prince? Since dinos are bigger, Mandy Cass is hoping you have to kiss fewer.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Prep table

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Prep cast.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

Interested, but a bit tired, RTP faces. On to the next event. Morphometrics demonstration.

Morphometrics Lab Demonstration

One Paleobiology's biggest and most popular projects to date has been the digitizing and remounting of our Triceratops skeleton, a specimen that had been on display in the Museum's exhibit halls since 1905. It became the world's first anatomically accurate Digital Dinosaur, rendered from real fossils. In creating the digital image, scale models were also possible, like this 1/5 size replica.

Paleo Vertebrate Prep Lab Tour

A long day in the Paleo Department, where they may be old, but they sure are cool.

Research Projects

RTP intern Toccarra Thomas has been documenting the progress of building construction by Masons from Mali, brought in to reconstruct their work for the Folklife festival. The structures are being constructed on the Mall between the Smithsonian Castle and NMNH building.

The Quest for a Bright Future:
options and insights for funding graduate study

RTP interns gathered in the ARC for lunch to talk informally with NSF Program Officer, Dr. Sally O'Connor (far right), about graduate school options and the NSF Graduate Fellowship program.

Mineral Sciences Lecture

Mike Wise gives a lecture to the RTP students on Pegmatites: What they are, and why they are important. The students learned that pegmatites are the source of most common gems, such as aquamarine and emeralds. Included in the talk were very nice pictures of gems that every girl would love!

Mineral Sciences Tour

The Natural History Building's "Blue Room", where the most valuable gems and minerals are stored. Students had to refrain from touching anything as they perused the cabinets and glass cases.

Mineral Sciences Tour

Paul Pohwat, Collections Manager in Mineral Sciences, talks about his favorite item in the collection. It is a clip from the Middle East that is encrusted with many different colorful, sparkling gems.

Mineral Sciences Tour

Beth Bollwerk smiles big as she holds a diamond.

Mineral Sciences Tour

Amanda Cass and Brittany Meagher were very excited to get the opportunity to hold a little piece of outer space, a meteorite from the NHB collection.

Mineral Sciences Tour

Meteorite: ALH 84001
Location: Allan Hills, Far Western Icefield, Antartica
Found: 27 December 1984
Type: (SNC)

ALH 84001, the meteorite that was believed to show evidence that life existed on Mars.

Can a rock journeying from Mars to Earth carry life? In 1984 a meteorite specialist drove up in a snowmobile and found a rock (ALH84001) that turned out to be a meteorite from the planet Mars. Scientists speculate that it had been blasted loose from Mars 16 million years ago. They believe it then zigzagged through the inner solar system until it happened to collide with Earth, landing in a barren Antarctic ice field about 13,000 years ago.

Recent electron micrograph studies of the rock show a bizarre tubelike structure - is this a fossil of primitive life from Mars?

We know Mars as a place of grand scale and wonder. A place where the largest volcanoes and deepest canyons in the solar system can be found. Although we have never returned a rock from Mars, we can study samples of Mars in our laboratories which come to us in the form of meteorites.

Learn more at:
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/meteorites/mars_meteorite.html
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/marslife.html

Mineral Sciences Tour

Jocelynn Johnson and Nancy Price carefully study this meteorite sample.

Mineral Sciences Tour

Mike Wise poses with the RTP future geologists. Jen Maloney (far right) is working on pegmatites (pictured here) with Dr. Wise. Also, in the back is the "geologist wannabe" - Raul Diaz.

Mineral Sciences Social

The Mineral Sciences Department hosted a social for the RTP students. The students enjoyed the opportunity to meet the scientists and learn more about gems and minerals.

Rock Saw Demonstration

Jen Maloney, a mineral sciences intern, tests her skill at using a diamond saw during the Mineral Sciences Preparation Lab demonstration.

Oral Presentations

The morning presentations were hosted by Systematic Biology Chair, Dr. Scott Miller (yellow tie), pictured here with the morning presenters, Miguel Fernendez, Raul Diaz, Abby Moore, Mandy Cass, and Stephaniie Johnson.

Pic of the Day

Oral Presentations

The RTP Seminar Series, held Monday, 28 July 03 in the Anthroplogy Seminar Room, featured 15 minute formal, oral presentations by the students following scientific meeting format. Pictured above, Abby Moore.

Oral Presentations

Toccarra Thomas presenting her summer project featuring the 37th Annual Folklife Festival and Mali Music.

Research Time

Dorothy Lippert, Nicole Whiteclay (RAMHSS), and Erica Jones examine a mandible prior to packaging it up and shipping it to the Native Village of Larsen Bay, Alaska.

Behind-the-Scenes

Elisa Maldonado and Soo-Yin Lim-Thompson visit a small section of the Amorphophallus titanum, inflorescence, now pickled and awaiting further preparation in the Botany Plant Anatomy Lab. These are dissected portions of the inflorescense representing male and female flowers, here undergoing vacuum to infiltrate the cells with fixative (FAA).

Before the US Botanic Garden flower completely withered, staff from Botany, including Dan Nicolson and Debbie Bell, ventured over to collect and preserve the inflorescence. Parts are now in large plastic bags under the fume hood while smaller sections of the flower, such as those under the bell jar, continue the fixation process.

Behind-the-Scenes

The flowers of Amorphophallus titanum

Behind-the-Scenes

Amorphophallus titanum

Public Poster Presentations

Kim Moeller (left) from the Exhibits Department shows Elisa Maldonado how to properly hang the presentation posters including the appropriate height for viewing and leveling.

Public Poster Presentations

Anthropology plus Abby

Public Poster Presentations

Soo-Yin Lim-Thompson, Brittany Meagher, and Nicole Whiteclay

Pic of the Day

Public Poster Presentations

The RTP Public Poster Session was held Wednesday, 30 July 03 in the Second Floor Rotunda in the balcony overlooking the elephant. Students talked to Museum guests about their specific research topics and Smithsonian science in general.

Public Poster Presentations

The tradition of sharing m&m's also moved to public space today. As Nancy Price found, there's nothing like sharing a cup of m&m's to start conversation, with interns and Museum guests.

Public Poster Presentations

Skye Chang had several guests interested in her research on the cast iron coffin.

Public Poster Presentations

Lesley Gregoricka, Beth Bollwerk, Clemontene Rountree, and Jen Maloney show off the dress code of the day: Smithsonian blue polo shirts, RTP name tag, purple intern ID, and great big smiles.

Public Poster Presentations

Sebastian Patino's (far right) family visited, not just the poster session but also got a peek behind-the-scenes at this work space.

Public Poster Presentations

Miguel Fernandez (right) was delighted to be visited by his very good friend Healy Hamilton.

Public Poster Presentations

RTP Class of '03

Professional Poster Session

Complementing the public viewing of posters, a private, professional session was held Thursday morning from 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. for members from the Smithsonian community, along with outside guest, to talk to the students about their summer research.

Professional Poster Session

Like the Public Poster Session, the Professional Poster Session was held in the Second Floor Rotunda. Many attended and students enjoyed talking to their professional colleagues about the details of their research.

Closing Reception

After the poster session guests convened in the Director's Office for a reception, featuring good food and great company.

Closing Reception

Representing the Smithsonian Women's Committee, Dr. Edna Jones (right) joined the reception to congratulate Jocelynn Johnson (center) , the first RTP student supported by the Smithsonian Women's Committee Internship Endowment.

Jocelynn worked with both Scott Whittaker (left) and Ed Vicenzi who was unable to attend the closing reception but shared his thoughts about the summer through a written message:

"My intern is Jocelynn Johnson and she is deaf. I have to tell you that the first day of the intern program when I meet her and two sign language interpreters, I really wondered how we would communicate when left alone together. Now that we're approaching the end of the period I can say that things worked-out splendidly and I really enjoyed working with her. She did a fine job on her study of the biological preservation of fossil wood and I'm looking forward to seeing her present these results at a national meeting in 2004. Apparently, the RTP program is not only for the enrichment of the interns."

Closing Reception

Several distinguished guests from outside the Museum joined the reception, including Dr. Victor Santiago (left), NSF Program Officer for the Centers of Research Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) Program and Historically Black College and University Undergraduate Initiative (HBCU-UP). Here Dr. Santiago talks to Nancy Price about her research project for the summer and plans for the future.

Closing Reception

During the reception students, including Miguel Fernandez, were delighted to have the opportunity to talk to NMNH Director, Dr. Cristian Samper. Miguel especially enjoyed talking about Dr. Samper's work in South America.

Pic of the Day

Awards Ceremony

Despite very busy schedules, to demonstrate their support, both Cristian Samper, NMNH Director (center) and David L. Evans (left), Smithsonian Under Secretary for Science, awarded RTP participants their Certificate of Participation. Shown here receiving hers, Jocelynn Johnson.

Awards Ceremony

Soo-Yin Lim-Thompson, Michael Marchizza, and Clemontene Rountree

Awards Ceremony

With great appreciation from all the RTP students, thank you Elisa Maldonado for all the help this summer!

The End

Program Exit

Leftovers from the Thursday reception sustained everybody through the day as the tedious exit interviews progressed.

Tocarra Thomas expecially enjoyed the leftover "Whole Poached Salmon with Dill Crème Fraiche, Sliced Cucumber and Lemon Mousseline topped with Crispy Sweet Potato Gaufrettes".

Program Exit

Saying good bye can be rough. Through the summer strong and lasting bonds are formed. And, although RTP collaborations are often kept, and many will see each other again, there is nothing to compare to the RTP summer together. Not just the m&m baskets, same holds true for the students. They also miss each other. Maybe not as much as they miss the "ever full" m&m baskets, but pretty darn close.

Program Exit

Lost? A leash without it's puppy? Almost as sad. An intern lanyard without ID. Even sadder, after ten weeks together, an intern, such as Danielle Royer, with an intern lanyard without its' purple Intern ID.

Program Exit

After ten weeks together, it's hard to let go. One at a time each RTP intern dropped off final exit papers and surrendered their purple Smithsonian photo ID to RTP Director Mary Sangrey (right), although sometimes not without a bit of a struggle (here captured with Nancy Price).

Program Exit
20/20 Features Skye's Project

He arrived at the Museum the same day we did and over the course of the summer, as we learned more about Smithsonian science, we also learned who he was and a bit about him. On our last day at the Museum his mystery was revealed on national television.