RTP '04 Participant List

Students selected to join the RTP Class of '04 had until 20 March 2004 to notify the RTP office if they accept or decline participation in the summer program. One student declined and the position refilled. One student withdrew without time to replace their slot. A total of 17 students joined the program, plus two students from the NOtre Dame partnership initiative.

Joaquin Aldabe
joaquinaldabe@hotmail.com

Mr. Aldabe is from Montevideo, Uruguay. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at Universidad de la República in Uruguay where he is majoring in Biology and Evolution with a minor in systematics and vertebrate zoology. He plans to attend graduate school focusing his studies on systematics and ornithology.

Mr. Aldabe is currently pursuing a research topic, investigating the geographic genetic structure in the franciscana dolphin, Pontoporia blainvillei, a cetacean species of conservation interest. Through this research topic he learned molecular techniques with application in evolution, such as DNA isolation, PCR amplification and sequence analysis. Apart from this he has participated as a volunteer in the ornithological collections of the NMNH of Uruguay and the Science school of Uruguay doing curatorial activities as well as working on field inventories and bird collecting trips. He is a member of a bird study group called "Averaves". This group is currently investigating bird communities in urban ecosystems and has recently presented a poster about this at the Neotropical Ornithology Congress held in Chile. Mr. Aldabe also works in the Entomology Laboratory of the Agronomy school where he participates in an aphid monitoring project identifying the species of this crop pest insect.

On the personal side: Mr. Aldabe says he has a passion for Uruguayan traditional culture, especially the Candombe rythm, a typical kind of uruguayan music, played in most cases with drums, which has its origins in Africa. However, it isn't exactly the same rythm as it was in Africa because through the years it has been modified, thus becoming a typical uruguayan rythm. "I'm a hard working and enthusiastic person. I really enjoy meeting people from all over the world. I'm interested in knowing about different cultures and interchanging ideas and experiences with people. I love nature and so I usually go camping in the country. There, I like watching birds as well as all kinds of animals and plants. When I go on these excursions I try to understand nature applying the theoretical biological knowledge I have aquired at university and share this with the people that are with me. I'm really looking forward to meeting the Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian staff and RTP participants. I'm sure it will be a great and unforgettable experience!"

Title: A study of the morpholocal adaptations and feeding habits of the Scimitar-Billed Woodcreeper (Drymornis bridgesii).

Hypothesis: Drymornis bridgesii has differences in locomotor adaptations compared with the highly arboreal members of the family Dendrocolaptidae.

Project Summary: The Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper (Drymornis bridgesii) is a bird that belongs to the family Dendrocolaptidae, Order Passeriformes. It has ground feeding habits that make it different from the rest of the species of this family, which feed mainly on the trunks of trees. The hind limb and skull bones of Drymornis will be studied in this project to discern anatomical differences in locomotor and feeding adaptations. Feeding habitat preferences will be determined through the analysis of stomach contents and literature.

Project Description: The family of woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptidae) within the Order Passeriformes (songbirds) contains about 52 different species and are found in American tropical and sub-tropical forests from Mexico to central Argentina (del Hoyo et al. 2003). They are closely related to the ovenbirds (Furnariidae), with which they share syringeal and toe characteristics as well as genetic similarities (Austin 1961, Sibley and Ahlquist 1990).

Woodcreepers are arboreal birds that forage almost entirely by gleaning and probing along trunks and branches. However there is one species, the Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper (Drymornis bridgesii) of southern Bolivia, western Paraguay, the extreme south of Brazil, western Uruguay, and northern and central Argentina (Ridgely and Tudor 1994), which forages mainly on the ground where it feeds by probing loose soil with its long bill. Irestedt et al. (2004) reported that this bird climbs trees only for refuge, but other authors (del Hoyo et al. 2003) have noted both ground and trunk foraging habits in this species.

It is because of this particular feeding habit that the Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper is expected to have special locomotor and feeding adaptations compared to other members of the family. Although the diet of this species has been generally described by del Hoyo et al. (2003), no detailed analysis has been conducted to investigate the terrestrial versus arboreal feeding preferences. Therefore, this project will investigate the stomach contents to help determine the preferred feeding habitat of this species, and also investigate the hind limb and skull morphology to document any differences in locomotor adaptations compared with the highly arboreal members of this family.

This study will attempt to identify the structural adaptations associated with a niche shift from strictly arboreal, trunk-feeding habits to a dominantly terrestrial, ground-feeding mode of living. Recognition of the anatomical changes associated with such a niche shift may then be useful in interpreting the habits of extinct species for which nothing is known about behavior, such as some of the Hawaiian Drepanidini (e.g. Hemignathus vorpalis James and Olson 2003)

Materials and Methods: The hind limb and skull comparisons will be performed using the following genera of woodcreepers that are stored in the Bird Division skeleton collection of the Smithsonian Institution: Drymornis, Nasica, Campyloramphus, Xiphocolaptes, Xiphorincus, Dendrocolaptes, and Lepidocolaptes. In addition, specimens from the American Museum of Natural History skeleton collection will be examined. Characters from the hind limb and skull bones will be measured using electronic calipers and recorded in an Excel spreadsheet. A dissecting microscope will be used to study small characteristics of the bones. If necessary, basic statistics will be conducted using Systat. Museum study skins will be examined for other morphological character differences.

Stomach content analysis of Scimitar-billed Woodcreeper will be performed using anatomical specimens from the Bird Division’s alcohol preserved collection. The stomach contents will be determined using a dissecting microscope. The habitat origin of the items will be studied in order to infer the ecological priorities of Drymornis.

Anthony "Tony" Alvarez
anthony_alvarez@umail.ucsb.edu

Mr. Alvarez is from Los Angeles, California. He is currently a junior at the University of California at Santa Barbara, having transferred from Pierce College in Los Angeles where he received his AA in Anthropology and collected Certificates of Achievement in both Anthropology and Archaeology, as well as being honored for academic excellence with a President’s Award and a listing for three semesters on the Dean’s List. He also received a Student Achievement Award and Scholarship from Pierce College’s Anthropology Department. He is currently double majoring in Anthropology and Religious Studies. He plans to attend graduate school, completing the doctoral program at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Mr. Alvarez says he's primarily interested in research topics dealing with Southern California Indians and hopes to expand into both historic and international social/archaeological projects. His long-term goal is to become a university professor.

Mr. Alvarez was the co-presenter of 'Tataviam Technology: The Tools of a Lost Culture' at the 3rd Annual Undergraduate Research Conference for California Community Colleges and co-editor of "Tataviam Habitat and Culture, An Introductory Text." He was the Crew Chief for the Pierce College Tataviam Archaeological Research Program, Speaker Coordinator for the 1st Annual California Undergraduate Anthropology Conference, and President of Pierce College’s Anthropology Society. He served is currently serving an internship with the Curator of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum and involved in an independent research project studying Tataviam subsistence.

He has also volunteered over 200 hours at the Top Sail Youth Program for underprivileged, at-risk youth - LA Maritime's acclaimed tall ship sailing program.

Title: GIS Prediction of the Outcrop Area of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Hypothesis: Using a computer generated Geographic Information Systems projection we will be able to discover exposed deposits containing fossils from the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Project Summary: This research is part of a larger on-going project headed by Scott Wing in Washakie County in northwestern Wyoming to study a geologically brief episode of climatic warming, the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), that occurred at the beginning of the Eocene Epoch. Evidence form fossil plants will be used to investigate the effects on plants of the greatly increased carbon dioxide and accompanying increased moisture and temperature that occured during this event. A difficulty that has arisen is finding the small band of deposits (generally a few meters to a few tens of meters thick ) produced by this short-term event within the very large column of strata (generally several kilometers thick). The hypothesis is that by using stratigraphic, elevation and spatial information about known PETM deposits we can predict where exposed and nearly exposed deposits of the right age can be found within the research area. The prediction will be made through computer generated models produced with a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program. After producing the predictive model we will test the hypothesis in the field and determine to what degree it was useful (in percentages) as well as evaluate if and why discrepancies occurred and then revise and refine the model for future use.

Project Description: Phase one of the project is synthesizing and producing a predictive computer model. It will include obtaining existing digital maps and other data for use in the model, inputting them into the GIS, running the projection and producing electronic and paper copies for use in the field. The deposits sought occur in the uppermost part of the Fort Union Formation (Paleocene) and the lowermost part of the Willwood Formation (Eocene). The starting point for the model will be the currently mapped boundary between these two formations. The existing geological data will be overlain on a topographic map to show how the formational contact varies with respect to topography as a consequence of the dip and strike of the strata, providing a predictive model of where PETM deposits are exposed. Multi year data will be incorporated into the GIS system data set. These field data include positions of plant and vertebrate fossil localities that help determine the age of the rocks, as well as traces of rock strata that are believed to mark the boundary. Using these spatial data from known deposits, we will project a plane onto the topographic data and examine where PETM deposits should outcrop in areas that have not yet been investigated. The areas on the surface where PETM-age rocks are predicted to intersect the land surface will consist of a set of points, lines and polygons.

The second phase of the project will be conducted in the field. We will take the list of predicted areas of PETM outcrop into the field and test its accuracy by collecting fossils, recording features of the rocks, and measuring aspects of rock chemistry that can be used to recognize the PETM. Visits to predicted areas of PETM outcrop will be prioritized according to: 1) the predicted thickness of strata, 2) the distance from known data points, and 3) accessibility.

After the field work, we will conduct a statistical analysis of the accuracy of the GIS model. We hope to identify the percentage of accuracy, where the accuracy was lowest/highest and why, what can be done to increase the accuracy, what points we found to have deposits that were not hits and why. To do this we will return the new data to the GIS and try to not only see where the accuracy was greatest and weakest, but also run a new projection for use in the future.

Materials and Methods: The first phase of the project takes place at the Smithsonian. A GIS model using digital map data provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Wyoming Geographic Science Center (WGSC) and its affiliates will be created. High resolution Orthographic photos, satellite photos, and geologic data will be downloaded and these layered in the GIS program ArcGIS 8.3. Using the maps, projections will be produced.

In the field both hand-held and differential GPS (Global Positioning System) devices will be used to locate and record deposits and fossils, and to verify the accuracy of the original map data.

In the final phase I will return to the Smithsonian and analyze the results. I plan on doing the initial analysis by inputting the new information into the GIS and identifying the factors that led to my conclusions. I will also generate an updated GPS file that reflects the new information.

Neil Aschliman
iceandshadows@hotmail.com

Mr. Aschliman is from Houston, Texas. He is currently a Junior at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas where he is majoring in Zoology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in ichthyology.

Through affiliation with the Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collection, Mr. Aschliman has investigated the phylogenetic implications of the intestinal spiral valve and claspers of batoid fishes. Later this year, he will be a coauthor of the latest revision of this ray phylogeny, which is currently in press. Last summer Mr. Aschliman completed a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) internship at Mote Marine Laboratory’s Center for Shark Research in Sarasota, Florida. Under Dr. James Gelsleichter, he conducted an in-depth study on the immunodetection of pollutants in hepatic tissue of the bonnethead shark, Sphyrna tiburo as well as research on the sperm storage in the same species. He is a member of both the American Elasmobranch Society and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, and will present his immunological research at the Norman, Oklahoma meeting in May (2004).

Mr. Aschliman is also an officer of the Aggie Science Organization and an active member in the E. L. Miller Science and Technology Committee, and TAMU Zoological Society. He has also served as a Research Assistant at the University of Hawai’i, San Diego, CA conducting research on kelp-fall communities on a Scripps Institution of Oceanography vessel under the direction of Dr. Craig Smith.

On the personal side: "I am a man apart, in that warring factions of scientific and aesthetic endeavor incessantly vie for my attention. Though I tend to rather famously neglect the marginally subordinate development of my artistic skills, an occasional marriage with science is actualized through freelance work. If I'm not ardently pursuing systematics or physiological research in the lab, I may be found in exotic realms on some mad quest for sharks and rays... or perhaps drawing and photographing organic forms or architectural arcana. I hope to realize some fanciful amalgamation of my experience in morphological systematics, molecular work and interest in developmental biology in the delicious sum of evo-devo research."

Project Summary: The Beloniformes are a teleostean order consisting of the needlefishes (family Belonidae), sauries (Scomberesocidae), halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae), flyingfishes (Exocoetidae) and rice fishes (Adrianichthyidae). Schlesinger (1909) and Regan (1911) recognized two subgroups, the Scomberesocoidea (sauries + needlefishes) and Exocoetoidea (halfbeaks + flyingfishes). Sauries are valuable commercial fishes in some areas such as the Mediterranean, and are important links in the epipelagic food chain (Hardy and Collette 2003). Although Collette et al. (1984) reaffirmed the monophyly of halfbeaks by identifying eight synapomorphic morphological characters (Tibbetts and Carseldine MS), an extensive investigation of the pharyngeal jaw apparatus in this group suggested that the family is paraphyletic (Tibbetts 1992). Subsequent molecular analysis using nuclear and mitochondrial genes (Lovejoy 2000) offered strong support for a paraphyletic Hemiramphidae. These studies identified the five genera of internally-fertilizing Indo-West Pacific (IWP) halfbeaks, the Zenarchopteridae, as being more closely related to the Scomberesocoidea than to the Exocoetoidea. Lovejoy notes that the morphological dataset of his study was relatively small, and analysis of further characters could yield a better-resolved phylogenetic tree. Monophyly has been well-established in the sauries (Lovejoy 2000), IWP halfbeaks (Meisner and Collette 1999) and flyingfishes (Lovejoy 2000), but no sauries were included in Tibbetts' robust analysis of the pharyngeal jaw apparatus. The pharyngeal region of additional beloniform species, particularly sauries, will be examined to determine whether or not the sauries are more closely related to the IWP halfbeaks, to the needlefishes, or to the halfbeaks and flyingfishes.

Project Description: Detailed dissections will be made of the pharyngeal region of beloniform species insufficiently examined by previous studies. As Tibbetts omitted sauries from his pharyngeal jaw apparatus analysis, special emphasis will be placed on this family. Morphological characters from Tibbetts' dissertation will be used to derive additional osteological and myological values for sauries and complete the data matrix. Forty characters will be evaluated, including 29 pharyngeal characters and 11 non-pharyngeal characters.

External examination of specimens will consist of standard length measurement with calipers, followed by determination of jaw teeth shape and size, nasal papilla morphology and caudal fin shape. Specimens will be dissected from the left side, exposing the pharyngeal region. Illustrations in situ or of excised bones will be made using the camera lucida. Dissections will follow Tibbetts' procedure, and muscle and pharyngeal bone characters will be evaluated according to his criteria.

Scanning electron microscropy will be used to visualize pharyngeal teeth and bones to determine character states in large specimens. Sample preparation follows Tibbetts' procedure. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (PAUP) version 4.0b10 for the Macintosh will be used to construct phylogenetic trees to test the hypothesis that the sauries are more closely related to the needlefish and IWP halfbeaks than to the halfbeak/flyingfish group.

Materials and Methods: United States National Museum (USNM) specimens of two saury genera, Cololabis and Scomberesox, and additional species of the Zenarchopteridae and Belonidae, will be examined. Dissection instruments, including dissection scope and camera lucida will be used. Scanning electron microscopy: pharyngeal bones will be removed from specimens by NA and prepared for SEM analysis according to Tibbetts' protocol by Scott D. Whittaker, SEM Lab Manager, National Museum of Natural History. Chemical reagents and equipment use will be furnished by the SEM Lab. PAUP v.4.0b10 for the Macintosh will be used for phylogenetic analysis.

Arden Ashley
aashley@Macalester.edu

Ms. Ashley is from Chicago, Illinois. She is currently a Junior at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota where she is majoring in Biology with a minor in Education. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in either paleobiological/systematic research or secondary school biology education.

Ms. Ashley volunteers at the Nature Museum in Chicago where she is a Museum Naturalist, helping interpret exhibits and occasionally helping groups with activities relating to the natural world. In 2001 Ms. Ashley presented research at a conference of the Society of Wetland Scientists and was selected as an alternate to present research at a Northwestern University Symposium.

Ms. Ashley says she has always enjoyed studying invertebrates and boasts that her favorite is Echinodermata, noting that "perhaps this can be traced back to first grade when I played a sand dollar in the class play, The History of Life." Her other dream is of becoming an inspirational high school biology teacher.

On the personal side: "I'm an excitable, dorky, city person with a strange affection for public transportation. I also like hiking, visiting museums (the first thing I do when I go to a new city is find out which museums have free days -- and of course how to get to them on public transportation; I also did an awesome week-long internship at the Chicago Historical Society when I was fourteen which really made me just want to live at a museum forever), and planning and carrying out little random, secretive surprises for the lovely people in my life. Right now I'm doing an internship at a Montessori school which is very interesting and rewarding. Next year I'll be studying abroad in Ireland and I'm very excited about that -- particularly because I think bogs are just the neatest ecosystems ever!"

Title: Evolution in Action?: analysis of presumed hybrids and parent stocks of the US east coast sand dollar genera Encope and Mellita

Hypothesis: It is hypothesized that the unidentified sand dollar specimens from Capron Shoal, Florida are hybrids between the genera Encope and Mellita.

Project Summary: Hybridization can play an important and positive role in the development of animal species, but it can also be risky, for the hybrids may eventually "swamp" the parent species, and hybrids may not possess the desirable ecological traits that may make the parent stocks valuable. Five-holed sand dollars of the genus Mellita occur in immense numbers in shallow water along the entire east coast of the USA. In many areas, Mellita overlaps with Encope, a very different genus. About twenty-five years ago, in the course of some Mellita research off the coast of Florida, approximately 20 specimens of what may prove to be a hybrid between Mellita and Encope were found. This RTP research project will involve a detailed survey of the external and internal characteristics of the presumed parent species and the presumed hybrids, in an attempt to provide an answer to an important question: Are these sand dollars indeed hybrids, or are they something else - perhaps a new genus and species?

Project Description: The common five-holed sand dollars of the genera Mellita and Encope occur off sandy beaches along the entire east coast and Gulf of Mexico coast of the USA; they are also common throughout the Caribbean, and they extend southwards along the coast of Brazil. The ecological role of Mellita can not be underestimated. In the course of feeding, species in this genus crush the silica sand grains, and swallow the fragments. The immense populations of Mellita along our coasts are reducing the grain size of the sand on which they live, and they directly affect the grain size of the sand on nearby beaches.

Publications by Telford (1981, 1988), Telford & Mooi (1986), Mooi (1986), Mooi, Harold & Telford (1987), Phelan (1972), Telford, Mooi & Ellers (1985), and Hendler, Miller, Pawson & Kier (1995) describe the external features of these sand dollars, their spine morphology, and provide some ecological information. These publications have shown that Encope and Mellita are very different in body form, color, and feeding habits (see Figures 1 and 2). More recent research (Pawson, unpublished) has demonstrated that these genera have very different breeding seasons - Mellita produced viable eggs and sperm year-round, while Encope has a short breeding season of two month duration. Thus, opportunities for hybridization between these two genera are reduced, but not eliminated entirely.

In the late 1970's, a sample of about 20 specimens of what have been identified as presumed hybrids between Encope michelini Agassiz and Mellita isometra Harold and Telford were collected from Capron Shoal, near Fort Pierce, Florida. These animals have the thin skeleton of Mellita and the coloration of Encope; other important physical features, such as the shape and position of the "slots" (lunules) in the body, seem to be exactly intermediate between Encope and Mellita. Presumed hybridization has been reported only three times in the Phylum Echinodermata. In an effort to determine whether or not these Capron Shoal sand dollars are indeed hybrids, this project will involve extensive morphological analysis of both of the presumed parent species as well as the proposed hybrids. The laboratory analyses described below (see Materials and Methods) should provide an answer to this intriguing and important question. If these animals are not hybrids, they must be regarded as a new genus and species.

The project will also involve a two-day trip to the Wachapreague, VA Marine Laboratory (College of William & Mary) to study live individuals of Mellita isometra in order to gain a better understanding of the functional role of the various types of spines, the lunules, and the complex water vascular system (not easily seen in dried study specimens but conspicuous externally in live individuals as thousands of moving tube feet performing a variety of tasks). If specimens of Encope are also collected, cross-breeding experiments will be conducted to determine whether Encope/Mellita hybrids are viable. Finally, as noted above, Mellita crushes sand grains while feeding; in contrast, Encope swallows sand grains whole. The planned research will determine whether or not the presumed hybrids crush sand grains while feeding. If the hybrids do not crush sand grains, and if the hybrids have the potential to eventually "swamp" the parent Mellita population(s), it is likely that, with the passage of time, the nature of our sandy east coast beaches will change.

Materials and Methods: This project will utilize basic laboratory supplies (metric rulers, plastic and glassware, razor blades, etc.), dissecting and compound microscopes, a digital camera, the X-ray laboratory in the Division of Fishes, and the Scanning Electron Microscope, as well as relevant image-processing software.

On selected specimens of Mellita, Encope, and the hybrids, the following will be measured: body length, width and thickness. The relative lengths of the petals and the number of pore-pairs per petal will be measured. The number of genital pores is also of importance. The position of the anus and lunules will be noted, also the position of the posterior lunule in particular in relation to the posterior petals. The spines from the dorsal and ventral sides, and from around the lunules, mouth, anus, food channels, pressure channels, and petals will all be removed, prepared, and compared using the scanning electron microscope. The SEM may also be used to examine the pincer-like organs (pedicellariae). X-ray analyses will reveal the relative sizes of the internal jaw apparatus (Aristotle's lantern) and structure of the internal skeleton in selected specimens. The contents of the intestines will be examined to determine whether the proposed hybrids crush sand grains like Mellita, or swallow the sand grains whole, like Encope.

Live larvae, bred during the field trip to Wachapreague, VA, will be returned to the laboratory and maintained in Pawson's larval rearing facility.

Megan Brown
smartchick2003@yahoo.com

Ms.Brown is from New Market, Maryland. She is currently a Freshman at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona where she is majoring in Geological Sciences. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in geology and then achieve a geological career working for a government or private research facility.

Ms. Brown says that geology has always been her passion. She collected rocks and has studied geology since elementary school. When she was a little older she was allowed to take a college level geology class at Moravian College as part of the Johns Hopkins Talented Youth Center. While there she confirmed her interest in pursuing a career in the geological sciences. In high school, she had the chance to go to Woods Hole, Massachusetts to participate in a twenty-day science program with ten days spent on land learning about marine science and how to run a tall ship and the next ten days spend on-board performing scientific experiments.

Ms. Brown maintains her own web site, http://www.public.asu.edu/~mrbrown4 featuring interviews with scientists in the geology field, places of geologic interest, geology focused book and movie reviews, and basic geological information. She has been awarded the Bausch & Lomb Science Award and Barrett Honors College student.

On the personal side: "I'm a student at Arizona State University. I am working on degrees in Geological Sciences and in Political Science. I am a member of the Geologic Society of America and volunteer in the ASU Geology Museum on campus. I love the outdoors and outdoor activities. I have had opportunities to sail on tall ships, rock climb, and white water raft. I am a white water rafting guide on the Shenandoah and Potomac Rivers near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia when I have the time. Ice skating is another activity close to my heart. I was a figure skater when I was younger and then played hockey when I was older. I worked at an ice rink all through high school. I also have started to do yoga this year and can’t get enough of it. I grew up in Maryland about forty minutes away from Washington, DC. DC is my favorite city, and I can’t wait to spend the summer working in the Smithsonian."

Title: Why is 433 Eros depleted in sulfur?: using meteorites to test competing ideas.

Project Summary: During the NEAR Mission, a depletion of sulfur was recorded in the asteroid Eros. There are two possible explanations for this occurrence: volatilization of S by micrometeorite impact or mobilization of a S-rich melt during partial melting. I will be studying meteorites that are analogs to 433 Eros to help determine which of the two possible explanations caused the depletion. I will be looking for evidence of sulfur volatilization in troilite grains from a regolith breccia and for evidence of mobilization of manganese (Mn) and chromium (Cr) in partially melted meteorites.

Project description: On February 14, 2000, the NEAR (Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) spacecraft began a year-long orbit of the S-type asteroid 433 Eros. The spacecraft carried a magnetometer, near-infrared spectrometer, multi-spectral imager, X-ray and gamma-ray spectrometer to study the geology, mineralogy and chemical composition of this asteroid. The data found that Eros is chemically and mineralogically similar to ordinary chondrites in most respects, but sulfur was depleted on Eros compared to H, L, and LL ordinary chondrites by about a factor of 2.

There are two hypotheses for the S-depletion. The first possible explanation is micrometeorite impacts caused sulfur volatilization, with the volatilized S escaping the asteroid. The second possible explanation is that Eros partially melted either removing sulfur from the asteroid during volcanism or segregating it into a core. I will be looking at meteoritic analogues to Eros to evaluate these two possibilities.

To see if micrometeorite impact caused sulfur volatilization, I will be looking at the meteorite Dwaleni. Dwaleni fell in Swaziland, Africa, and is an example of a regolith breccia. Regolith breccias are our best representation of what we would find on Eros if we could collect a sample from the surface of the asteroid. They contain solar-wind gases that were trapped in mineral grains when they resided in the upper meter of the surface regolith of an asteroid and were subsequently resolidified by a later impact. We will focus on troilite (FeS) grains within the dark matrix of the meteorite (that part that contains the trapped solar wind gases). Within the grains, I will be looking for the effects of volatilization in the form of nickel free metal (formed when the Fe and S in troilite disassociate).

To help see if partial melting played a role in the formation of 433 Eros, I will be looking at the occurrence of manganese (Mn) and chromium (Cr) in meteorites that formed by partial melting, probably on an S-type asteroid like Eros. Acapulco, a meteorite that fell in Mexico, records ~1% partial melting, while Lodran, a meteorite that fell in Pakistan, is an example of ~20% partial melting. These meteorites were used as Eros analogs extensively by the original NEAR team, but they studied a relatively small number of elements (Si, Al, Mg, S, Ca and Fe). Dr. McCoy and his collaborator Dr. Larry Nittler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington are currently funded to extract Cr and Mn abundances from the original X-ray spectra collected by NEAR. However, the exact behavior of Cr and Mn (and their host minerals) during melting is incompletely understood. I will be using instruments like the Scanning Electron Microscope to map these two meteorites looking at the Mn and Cr in particular. I will be comparing the two meteorites to understand their behavior during partial melting and, in particular, look for evidence that they were mobile during melting. My conclusions will be used as a basis for understanding the Cr and Mn abundances determined for 433 Eros in the future.

This research will be an important next step in determining the cause of the sulfur depletion on asteroid 433 Eros. If I find evidence of troilite decomposition in Dwaleni, that would support the theory that the depletion is a result of micrometeorite impacts. In contrast, evidence of Cr and/or Mn mobility during partial melting - coupled with a non-chondritic Cr/Mn ratio in the newly-derived composition of Eros - would strongly favor the partial melting scenario.

Materials and Methods: Polished thin sections of all three meteorites will be examined with the petrographic microscope. In Dwaleni, I will map the locations of the dark matrix and sulfide grains within that matrix. In Acapulco and Lodran, I will examine the locations and morphologies of chromite grains, which are the major carrier for Cr. The scanning electron microscope will be used to map the distribution of Cr and Mn in the Acapulco and Lodran meteorites and to examine individual troilite grains in Dwaleni. The spatial resolution of the SEM is about 1 micron. If promising troilite grains are identified, we can examine them at smaller spatial scales using the Field Emission Gun SEM (FEG SEM) (about 0.5 microns) and the Time of Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (ToF SIMS) (about 0.1 microns).

Jonathan Chen
Jonathan.Chen@oberlin.edu

Mr. Chen is from San Francisco, California. He is currently a Sophomore at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio where he is majoring in Biology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in ecology. After receiving his degree he hopes to become a college professor and possibly work for a world conservation organization.

Mr. Chen served an internship at the El Verde Field Station at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and last summer he was selected for an internship as part of the Harvard Forest REU program. Here he looked at ant diversity in different forest types at the Harvard Forest - hemlock forests that are soon to be impacted by the exotic hemlock woolly adelgid; adjacent hardwood forests; and pine and oak forests that have been subjected to 18 years of nitrogen and sulfur additions to investigate nitrogen saturation in northern forests. Mr. Chen also pursued independent research, examining diversity of ants across a successional gradient at the Harvard Forest. He recently obtained a grant from the Ohio Biological Survey for his research.

On the personal side: Mr. Chen has participated in Boy Scouts of America since 1993 and obtained the rank of Eagle Scout in 2001. He is also a volunteer canine caretaker at the San Francisco Animal Care and Control.

Title: Cladistic Analysis of the Genus Cyphomyrmex and the Origin of Yeast Cultivation in Fungus-growing Ants

Hypothesis: The species within the rimosus-group of Cyphomyrmex that cultivate yeast gardens are derived from the species that cultivate mycelial gardens and are monophyletic.

Project Summary: Fungus-growing ants are grouped in the tribe Attini, which belongs in the subfamily Myrmicinae. The Attini are unique among ants because they grow fungi as a source of food. Twelve of the thirteen genera within this tribe and most species within the thirtheenth genus, Cyphomyrmex, cultivate a multicellular mycelium. Some species within this genus, however, cultivate a unicellular yeast. A phylogenetic tree of this genus will be constructed using a cladistic analysis based on morphological features. The phylogeny will be used to test the monophyly of the species that cultivate yeast gardens.

Project Description: The tribe Attini is unique within the Formicidae because only these ants cultivate fungus as a source of food. The most recognizable members of this group are the leaf-cutter ants. Members of the tribe Attini are only found in the New World and primarily in the Neotropics. Twelve of the thirteen genera within this tribe cultivate fungus gardens grown as a typical multicellular mycelium. Within a subset of the genus Cyphomyrmex known as the "rimosus-group" some species differ from all other Attini because they cultivate gardens consisting of unicellular yeast. Previous research has disproved an earlier hypothesis that this genus was the basal attine clade and has shown that yeast-growing is a derived characteristic. Through cladistic analysis of morphological features, this project will investigate whether yeast cultivation arose a single time within the genus or if it has arisen multiple times.

Materials and Methods: The ant specimens will be obtained from the collection at the National Museum of Natural History (Smithsonian Institution). Morphological characters will be studied and coded for cladistic analysis; ideas for characters will be drawn from Snelling and Longino (Quintero and Aiello, Insects of Panama and Mesoamerica: Selected Studies, Oxford University Press, 1992). Characteristics will be coded in the computer program MacClade and analyzed in PAUP to produce a phylogenetic tree.

Lynn Copes
lec2002@columbia.edu

Ms. Copes is from Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. She is currently a Junior at Columbia University in New York where she is majoring in Anthropology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in paleopathology, forensic anthropology and osteoarchaeology. She says: "Just because I love to learn things, I'd like to earn a few master's degrees in subjects like paleopathology, forensic anthropology and osteoarchaeology. In order to go to Africa and dig in the dirt for hominid fossils, a PhD in paleoanthropology is required and planned. After succumbing to heat stroke or sunburn, teaching in a small Midwest liberal arts college or curating a bone collection in a museum would be ideal."

Ms. Copes has spent time at the American Museum of Natural History as a research intern/volunteer and currently has three papers in preparation: a journal article about the geographic distribution of frontal grooves; an addition to a monograph about the museum's Inuit collection from Point Hope; and a response to Blumenschine's March 2003 article on OH 65, detailing a reconstruction of OH 7. She attended the American Association of Physical Anthropologists' meetings in 2002 and 2003; presented a poster at the 2003 meetings (frontal grooves), and is first author on a presentation for 2004 meetings (an endocast study).

Ms. Copes says she is "an unashamed and incurable bibliophile, spending my Saturdays in the Biology library reading journal articles. . . I began with the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and the Journal of Human Evolution. I soon added Science, Nature, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scientific American, National Geographic, and Discover. JSTOR has become my most frequently visited website."

On the personal side: "When I'm not taking anthropology classes or in the skull room at AMNH, I can be found reading Harry Potter with my after-school program fourth grade class, or in search of warm Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I write for a literary magazine at Columbia, which recently ran personal ads for its contributors. Mine read: Wholesome, blonde, Midwestern gal seeks older man. Much older. Four to five million years old is a good start. Bipedal locomotion preferred but not required. The ability to make/use Acheulean stone tools similarly a plus (hey, I like a man ahead of his time). Bonus points for correct pronunciation of Australopithecus bahrelghazali."

Title: Investigating the relationship between existing paleoenvironmental and paleoanthropological data: is there a good fit?

Hypothesis: This research will test the hypothesis that there is a strong and exact relationship between the stratigraphic layers of paleoenvironmental data - such as faunal assemblages, pollen records and stable isotope data - and the layers where hominin skeletal material and artifacts are found.

Project Summary: The proposed research will investigate the paleoenvironmental and hominin data used by paleoanthropologists to reconstruct the habitats of early humans in the Turkana and Olduvai basins of East Africa during the Pliocene and early Pleistocene. This inter-disciplinary study will test the reliability of the environmental reconstructions of early hominin habitats by examining how closely matched the sources of paleoenvironmental markers are to the stratigraphic levels in which hominin activity markers (skeletal and archaeological material) are found.

Project Description: The proposed research will investigate the data used by paleoanthropologists to reconstruct the paleoenvironments and habitats of early humans. The project will focus on important hominin sites in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and the Turkana Basin of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The Turkana Basin includes four distinct localities: East Turkana (Koobi Fora), West Turkana, Omo and Kanapoi; Olduvai Gorge is divided into four beds, only the first two of which will be studied. Each locality or bed is divided into members, demarcated by tuffs, and further into stratigraphic layers. Distributed among these layers are clues to the paleoenvironment - such as faunal assemblages, pollen records and stable isotope data - as well as paleoanthropological artifacts. There has yet to be a broad study of whether these two types of data typically come from the exact same or different strata. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to examine systematically how well the two types of data are associated, and thus to test the reliability of previous reconstructions of early human habitats. A secondary goal of this project is to integrate environmental, geologic and traditional anthropologic data into one database that will later be used in a larger project supported by NSF grant number 01218511.

During the course of the investigation, statistical methods will be devised to test measures of fit between the two types of matches. While strength of relationship statistical tests require the two tested variables to be continuous, the data in this study are discontinuous by definition (separate points in stratigraphic layers). Another option is to compare the four localities and two beds by determining the percentage of stratigraphic layers containing hominin activity markers that have also been tested for paleoenvironmental indicators. These simple percentages can be compared among the sites to find significant differences, and will inform the field of human origins studies of the robustness of the paleoenvironmental data used by paleoanthropologists to suggest areas where new research is needed.

Materials and Methods: At the museum, the various resources used will include the Turkana Basin Database, the Turkana Hominin Fossil Database (both of which use FileMaker Pro), Excel, and published literature (see attached preliminary bibliography). The project will also include four weeks in Olorgesailie, Kenya. There, Smithsonian researchers are engaged in collecting fossil, archaeological, and paleoenvironmental data. This field work will provide first hand experience with primary data collection, and also present the ability to analyze the ease or practicality (or lack thereof) of collecting both paleoanthropological and paleoenvironmental data from the same stratigraphic levels.

The main goal of the proposed research is to investigate where the paleoenvironmental data used by paleoanthropologists comes from and how exactly it relates to the strata that contain human fossil and archeological remains. To study this relationship, a background in the geology of the two large areas must be gathered. Three types of paleoenvironmental data will be used: stable isotopes, which can determine whether the terrain was dominated by grasses (C4 plants) or bushes and tress (C3 plants); fossilized pollen, which also helps recreate the diversity of plant life; and faunal assemblages. Rather than analyze all of the possible paleoenvironmental implications of all of the faunal remains, this study will take the percentage of Alcelaphus (a genera of wildebeest-like animals) to the total bovid population. As alcelaphines eat grass, their presence relative to other animals in any one stratum provide a robust clue to reconstructing the paleoenvironment. Also, by limiting the faunal analysis to one genera, there will be no size-biasing problems as would exist if the percentage of rodents to large herbivores were studied, for example.

After studying stratigraphic layer maps and placing the paleoenvironmental data into an Excel database, hominin and archaeological data will be added. This data will be added to the database and plotted onto the stratigraphic maps for easier visualization. Then any matches between the layers containing hominin activity markers and the layers with paleoenvironmental markers will be counted. The statistical percentages of "good matches" will be found for each locality in Turkana, and compared within the site and to the same percentage for the Olduvai site to determine the degree of matching data and if significant differences among sites exist.

Amie Garcia
purplepenguin2011@hotmail.com

Ms. Garcia is from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She is currently a Sophomore at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota where she is majoring in Geology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in geology, minerology, or possibly sedimentology.

Ms. Garcia says she has always been interested in geology and within geology, she is most interested in tectonics, paleomagnetics, and volcanology but also is interested in vertebrate paleontology. She received the PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Company) Scholarship, the Gries Geology Fellowship and is a member of the Society of Economic Geologists

Hypothesis: This project will look at the variations in color and texture of Morefield amazonite in order to figure out why some of the microcline is green and some is white.

Project Summary: This project will be conducted to help identify why amazonite, a green variety of microcline, forms in the Morefield pegmatite in Virginia. Scientists have many theories as to why amazonite may be green, such as impurities of lead, copper, and OH-1. Using cathodoluminescence, a scanning electron microscope, and a electron microprobe, we hope to draw some conclusions about the origin of amazonite in the Morefield pegmatite.

Project Description: Microcline (KAlSi3O8) is typically white, cream, or pink in color, but amazonite is the green variety. Within the Morefield pegmatite, there are masses of both white and green microcline. Occasionally they are adjacent to each other within the pegmatite. Amazonite within the pegmatite varies from pale green to a more intense green. Variation in the intensity of the green color may be due to the concentration of impurities such as Pb, Cu, or OH in the microcline crystal structure. This project will look at the variations in color and texture of Morefield amazonite in order to figure out why some of the microcline in the pegmatite is green and why other microcline is typically white.
Using a technique called cathodoluminescence, we hope to discover why amazonite forms within the Morefield pegmatite. Cathodoluminescence (CL) is a technique that bombards a specimen with electrons. Colors are produced using CL if an activation element is present, whereas if no color is produced an inhibitor may be present. CL may also show textural characteristics that would otherwise go unnoticed. Replacement is one of the major features that will be considered in this project while using the CL. Replacement is when an earlier formed mineral chemically alters to another mineral. If we can see replacement at the microscopic level that may explain the reason for the change in microcline color from white to green.

Materials and Methods: The materials that will be used in this project are hand samples of amazonite from the Morefield pegmatite plus thin sections and chips of the amazonite. These thin sections and chips will be used to test chemical and textural variations in the amazonite specimen. There will be thin sections or chips of both the deep green and the pale green color to check for chemical differences between them. CL, SEM, and electron microprobe analysis will be used for this project. CL will be used first to obtain images of the amazonite samples. Depending on what activator elements are present, if there are any at all, the CL should show some variation in color. If the elements within the amazonite are not activators then there will be areas of black on the images. If a black area is encountered, a microprobe will be used to analyze that area directly, and then to determine what the exact composition of that area is. The thin sections or chips can then be analyzed using the SEM (scanning electron microscope). Analysis will be used to determine the concentration of the elements that are within the amazonite.

Mr. Haro is from Quito, Ecuador. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) in Quito, Ecuador where he is majoring in Botany. He plans to attend graduate school pursuing botanical studies and conservation biology.

Last year Mr. Haro participated in an internship program offered by the Missouri Botanical Garden and The National Herbarium of Ecuador (QCNE) for Ecuadorian, Bolivian and Peruvian undergraduate students. He has also worked in the QCA Herbarium as curator and database assistant.

Mr. Haro is interested in learning more about the Neotropical flora, its' ecology, biogeography, and diversity. He has presented a poster at the Ecuadorian Congress of Botany titled: Bromeliads Distribution in two plots in Sumaco Biosphere Reserve. This research was conducted as part of his previous internship and is currently being revised before slated for publication as part of the Congress abstracts.

Title: A key of the genus Critoniopsis Ecuador, South America (Vernonieae: Asteraceae)

Hypothesis: Using the resources of the Smithsonian Institution, a key to the species of Ecuadorian Critoniopsis will be developed using key characters extracted from prior descriptions and sample analysis performed during this project.

Project Summary: A review of the genus Critoniopsis Sch. Bip. was done by H. Robinson in 1993. The treatment expanded the group to 76 neotropical species. Species were transferred from other related genera to Critoniopsis, but no key was provided for the group. In Ecuador, the genus is now represented by 17 species distributed from 700 to 3500 m in the Ecuadorian Andes. The purpose of the present project is to provide descriptions for the Ecuadorian species and a key to identify these species using the research facilities and collections of the Smithsonian Institution, U.S. National Herbarium, Department of Botany, Washington, DC.

Project Description: A group of neotropical Vernonieae having few florets in the heads and deciduous inner involucral bracts has been treated under different names since 1900. The group was treated first as Monosis sect. Eremosis DC. in 1836. Critoniopsis Sch.Bip. was first described at a generic level in 1863, but it was subsequently used only at a sectional level under Vernonia (Cuatrecasas, 1956). The various authors using Critoniopsis as a section of Vernonia did not consider Eremosis. Robinson (1980) reestablished Critoniopsis as a genus, accepting the section Critoniopsis and Eremosis as synonyms. Robinson (1980) also established the subtribe Piptocarphinae for the genera Piptocarpha, Critoniopsis, Pollalesta, and three recently described genera Joseanthus H. Rob., Cuatrecasanthus H. Rob. and Dasyandantha H. Rob.

Critoniopsis is composed of shrubs or trees to 13m tall with stems and leaf undersurfaces densely pilosulous to tomentose, rarely glabrous (C. glandulata and C. boliviana). Leaves are simple, alternate or opposite, petiolate or rarely sessile (C. harlingii, C. sagasteguii); blades often coriaceous, broadly ovate to elliptical or obovate, base cuneate to slightly cordate, margins entire or remotely denticulate to serrulate distally, apices obtuse to acuminate, upper surface glabrous to tomentose, surfaces sometimes with stellate hairs; venation pinnate. Inflorescence terminal on leafy branches, usually pyramidally thyrsoid, with corymbose to subcymose branches. Heads homogamous; involucral bracts slightly to strongly coriaceous, subimbricate to imbricate in 4-6 series, appressed, inner bracts easily deciduous, sometimes with strongly recurved basal margins, distal margins often split at maturity, rarely with a white marginal flange (C. harlingii); receptacle epaleaceous. Florets mostly 2-11; corollas regular, white to lavender. Anthers often tailed, tails not sclerified. Achenes prismatic, usually with 8 veins, 3-8 ribbed, with many rounded idioblasts on surface usually in clusters; pappus biseriate, and pollen grains tricolpate, spinulose, type A.

In Ecuador, the genus is represented by seventeen species. Nine of the species are endemic to the country (C. cotopaxensis, C. dorrii, C. harlingii, C. jaramilloi, C. palaciosii, C. sevillana, C. sodiroi, C. tungurahuae, and C. yamboyensis), and three are known only for the type collection (C. cotopaxensis, C. harlingii, and C. jaramilloi). Ten of the actual species were recognized by Cuatrecasas (1956) under Vernonia sec. Critoniopsis, and descriptions and a key in Latin have been provided for these. The rest of the species have been described separately. A review of the description is necessary and will be done in this project, compiling the information of the species described. Adjustments and all necessary changes will be done if a taxonomic status in a species is in doubt. Using the information from the descriptions a key to identify the species will be done for the Ecuadorian species. This key is particularly needed for future studies considering the range of endemism and the distribution of most of the Ecuadorian species, especially the endemic ones.

Materials and Methods: Using the resources of the U.S. National Herbarium, Department of Botany, Natural Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, background information about the descriptions will be obtained from the original publications, and from the Compositae curators, H. Robinson and Vicki A. Funk, in the Herbarium. After checking all the information, and compiling the data, all the remaining necessary information will be obtained from the collection by analyzing the samples macroscopically and microscopically.

The collection of specimens in the Herbarium will be used also to construct the key. All the known species are well represented in the collection in addition to the type material. Since two of three species are known only from the type are in the Herbarium, and the other one is in the Field Museum of Chicago, a photocopy or a scan of the sample will suffice and is easily obtained.

The characters for the key will be extracted initially from the compiled literature and descriptions. This information will then be checked and completed using the samples from the collections. The results will be published in a peer reviewed botanical journal, and copies of the publication will sent to the principal Ecuadorian Herbaria.

Emily Moran
morane@umich.edu

Ms. Moran is from Bloomington, Indiana. She is currently a Junior at University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan where she is majoring in Biology with a focus in ecology, evolutionary biology, and botany. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in botany, particularly plant ecology and/or the interaction of plants with animals, fungi, and microbes. After earning her degree she says she would like to work either as a professor, doing a mixture of research and teaching, or as a researcher/curator at a museum, herbarium, or botanic garden.

When Ms. Moran was in high school she took part in a summer internship at the Royal Botanic Garden Kew in the UK, working in the economic botany department with researchers studying Chinese medicinal plants. While studying abroad at the University of Melbourne last year she volunteered at the university herbarium with duties focused on mounting, re-labeling, and organizing specimens in the Acacia collection.

While at the University of Michigan Ms. Moran has participated in several research projects relating to plant ecology, and is currently working on an experiment dealing with the interactions between tree seedlings and mycorrhizal fungi.

Ms. Moran has received a number of academic awards including 2003 Ormond Scholar, Angell Scholar, and Barry Goldwater Scholarship Nominee.

On the personal side: "I'm the only child of two only children, which could explain a lot. In my free time, I enjoy cooking, gardening, hiking, fiction writing, swimming, and reading anything I can get my hands on. I also love to travel, and a visit to any new city, state, or country is guaranteed to include a visit to the local nature reserve, zoo, botanic garden, aquarium or natural history museum."

Title: A Morphological Characterization of the Genera of the Plant tribe Liabeae (Compositae).

Hypothesis: Erato has four species and is monophyletic, and it is the sistergroup of Philoglossa.

Project Summary: This research project focuses on a morphological revision of the genus Erato DeCandolle in the flowering plant family Compositae (Asteraceae), tribe Liabeae. The genus has never been revised, although some species have been treated for the Flora of Ecuador (Robinson 1978). The monograph produced will include descriptions of all four species in the genus, a cladogram, a key to the species, a distribution map, and a description of the genus. Data from the mophological analysis will be compared with molecular data.

Project Description: The 25,000 species of the family Compositae are divided into subfamilies and tribes; the most recent revision of the family has 10 subfamilies and 35 tribes (Panero and Funk 2003). The tribe Liabeae contains 15 genera which are confined to the Neotropics from southern Mexico and the Caribbean down the Andes to Argentina, but most of the genera are found in Peru and Ecuador (Robinson 1983). Members of the tribe include perennial herbs, vines, shrubs, and small trees. They usually have opposite leaves, often have milky sap, and are frequently covered with an arachnoid tomentum. The ray and disk flowers are usually yellow, although red and white florets also occur. The tribe is part of a monophyletic group (subfamily Cichorioideae s.s., Panero and Funk 2003) which includes four main tribes, the Lactuceae (Dandelions), Arctoteae (African Daisies), Vernonieae (Ironweeds) and Liabeae (Andean Sunflowers). The Vernonieae is the sister group of the Liabeae (Funk et al. in press). The genus Erato is native to Ecuador and Peru and consists of coarse perennial herbs or subshrubs with milky sap and yellow flowers. Erato belongs to the monophyletic subtribe Munnoziinae (Robinson 1983; Kim et al. 2003) defined by the presence of dark colored anthers, and its sistergroup is Philoglossa Prodr. (Robinson 1983; Kim et al. 2003).

The monograph will include an introduction, a description of the genus, a cladogram, a distribution map, and an artificial key to the species. For each of the four species it will cover the nomenclature and provide descriptions, discussions, and specimens cited. Distribution maps and morphological cladograms will also be produced. These cladogram(s) will be compared with existing molecular cladograms and the data from the two studies will be combined. Morphological and molecular data will be combined in order to provide the fullest and most accurate description of the group possible.

The goal of the proposed research project is to provide the student with an understanding of systematic research. The production of a high quality monograph of any group includes fieldwork, but the timing of this internship is not synchronous with the flowering of Erato. In order to demonstrate the methods used in the collection of data in the field the intern will take part in a collecting trip to Nevada with her advisor to gather samples of the monotypic genus Hecastocleis. They will gather material for herbarium specimens, genetic analysis, and take detailed photographs. This material will be used in a description of the species, additional DNA analysis, SEM studies, etc. The genus Hecastocleis is of interest because it occupies an unusual place in available cladograms of the Compositae (Funk et al., in press). Should time permit, the intern will participate in this research project as well. The combination of the research project and this short field trip will expose the student to the entire process of systematic botany research from collection to publication. Hecastocleis is found in reproductive mode only in May and early June.

Materials and Methods: Herbarium specimens of Erato will be examined in detail by the student to produce a morphological description of each species. Standard dissecting tools (dissecting and light microscopes, etc.) will be used. The latitude and longitude of most collections will be determined using a USGS DVD with topological maps of the USA and ARC-GIS will be used to produce distribution maps. A morphological data matrix will be constructed from the species data and analyzed using PAUP (Swofford, 2002) and McClade (Maddison and Maddison, 2001). Cladogram(s) produced will be compared with existing molecular cladograms. Species descriptions will also be used to create an artificial key for the four species, and will be summed to produce a description of the genus Erato. Samples of Hecastocleis collected will be pressed and mounted as herbarium specimens. Leaf samples preserved in silica gel will be used for the genetic analysis, and photographs of the living plant will be taken with both digital and film cameras. If time permits, the student may participate in further analysis of this material.

James Morgan
jamesjpmorgan@yahoo.com

Mr. Morgan is from Dearing, Georgia. He is currently a Sophomore at Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, Georgia where he is majoring in Plant Science - Biotechnology. He plans to complete graduate school and pursue a career in the field of biotechnology, specifically genetic engineering and genomics, specifically research on plant diseases and possible medicinal value of rare and overly excessive plants.

Mr. Morgan anticipates a career working with a team of scientists who specify in the genetic engineering of plants and/or the science of gene discovery. He is particularly interested in plants having medicinal value. Mr. Morgan participated in an agricultural-based program for high school students at Fort Valley State University called SRAP(Summer Research Apprenticeship Program). During this program he worked on a project titled "Using Geothermal Energy to Grow Freshwater Prawn." During the summer of 2003 he joined a research team at the University of Georgia through the SURP (Summer Undergraduate Research Program) program investigating Gene Discovery in Sorghum bicolor including sequencing a portion of the pollen.

Mr. Morgan received the Bio-Whiz award in 2002 and the Brigdon Leadership award in 2001. He is a member of the Plant Science/Agriculture Club, Habitat for Humanity, Forensic Society, and Future Farmers of America.

Title: Skeletal Morphology of Mammals, Sorcid Feet in Relation to Phylogeny

Hypothesis: There are morphological variations among the bones of shrew feet in relation to species.

Project Summary: Forefeet of dried and alcohol-preserved shrew specimens from 5 species of the genus Cryptotis will be digitally x-rayed and measured to determine morphological variation in bone structure in and among species.

Project Description: Variation in the feet of shrews of the family Sorcidae has shown to be potentially useful for providing information about their evolutionary relationships. Unfortunately, complete soricid skeletons are available for only a few species. This project involves investigating the skeleton of the forefeet of dried and alcohol-preserved shrew specimens using modern x-ray techniques to determine whether morphological differences exist, and how variation is similar or different within and among species. The bones of the forefeet, as revealed by the x-ray photographs, will be compared among 5 species. The 5 species represent four groups of the genus Cryptotis that are morphologically distinctive based on other characteristics. They are: C. parva (C. parva group); C. nigrescens (C. nigrescens group); C. meridensis (C. thomasi group); C. mexicana (C. mexicana group) and either C. goldmani or C. goodwini (C. mexicana group). I will look for patterns of variation within and among these species and what that may tell me about the relationship among species.

The x-rays of the Soricid forefeet will be taken using the Kevex-Varian Digital X-ray system, located in the Division of Fishes of the National Museum of Natural History. The Kevex-Varian Digital X-ray system uses a kilovolt flashscan to capture an x-ray image from a Carbon Fiber Panel background. Images will be saved to a disc for permanent storing. Photoshop, an image editing program, will be used to view and edit images. From the photographs, selected bones of the forefeet will be measure using a ruler. The average length and width of the selected bones will be calculated after observing obvious variations and the bones will be compared to individuals within the same species as well as with other species.

Digna Ortiz
digna@sg.inter.edu

Ms. Ortiz is from Guanica, Puerto Rico. She is currently a graduating Senior at Universidad Interamerica de Puerto Rico in San German, Puerto Rico where she is majoring in Sociology with a minor in Anthropology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study Anthropology and then conduct culture studies in the Caribbean looking at the changing roles of Caribbean women.

Ms. Ortiz has worked for the Institute of Puerto Rico Culture as field technician.

Title: Testing the ceramic chronology for the Steed-Kisker Phase, Missouri

Hypothesis: Ceramic designs vary chronologically so their testing cannot give an accurate estimate on the age of the sites.

Project Summary: Using portions of broken vessels from excavated Steed-Kisker phase archaeological sites from near Kansas City, Missouri, decorative ceramic types will be identified and the chronological significance of the decorative sequence will be evaluated. The results will be compared to an existing chronological sequence proposed by Patricia J. O'Brien at Kansas State University. The vessels forms and decoration of the Steed-Kisker phase ceramics will be compared to those from Cahokia to assess their similarities and evaluate the closeness of their cultural relationships.

Project Description: Archaeologically, the Steed-Kisker phase is a part of the Mississippian tradition in the Missouri and Kansas area. The phase was tentatively determined by fifteen radiocarbon assays to range from A.D. 760 to 1290 (Shippee 1972). Shell tempered pottery typifies many of the Steed-Kisker phase sites and serves as the diagnostic artifact for the Steed-Kisker phase. The pottery is often decorated with parallel wavy or zigzag lines. The type site for the Steed-Kisker phase is the Steed-Kisker site that was excavated by Waldo Wedel of the Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History in 1938. Geographically, the Steed-Kisker site covers more than forty acres, as determined by surface collections of stone artifacts, flint flakes, pottery sherds and fired clay daub (Shippee 1972) and consists of several widely spaced houses. Wedel excavated two of the houses and Shippee a third house at the Steed-Kisker site. The ceramics from these houses will be compared to each other, to the proposed ceramic sequence, and to the ceramics from the Mississippian tradition site of Cahokia.

The main task of this project will be to classify and generate taxonomy by analyzing data from excavations to determine the relationship of the sites, their artifacts and features to other sites. How are they alike or different? The sites will then be grouped on the basis of similarities and differences. For the Steed-Kisker phase, taxonomy is especially important for such issues as cultural affiliation. Using various hypotheses and theories, I will attempt to explain why the differences and seminaries occurred, how they happened, and if they are conclusive in determining a relationship with an existing culture.

Materials and Methods: The artifacts that will be analyzed are located at MSC and are readily available. All pertinent documentation of sites, excavations, and detailed inventories lists are also available at the National Museum of Natural History. This project will require extensive documental research and comparison with an existing four phase stylistic seriation of the Steed-Kisker pottery designs proposed by Patricia J. O'Brien of Kansas State University and published in 1978. Existing radiocarbon dating reports will also be reviewed. A 20-30 page formal paper will be written documenting all findings.

Christian Miguel Pinto Baez
CMPINTO@puce.edu.ec

Mr. Pinto is from Quito, Ecuador. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador where he is majoring in Biology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in Ecology and then achieve a career as a biology professor in Ecuador, while continuing research on neotropical mammals.

Mr. Pinto's research interests include the relationship between mammals and their parasites and infectious agents, as well as morphology and ecology of different groups of mammals. He is especially interested in continuing his research in mammalian ecology and morphology, with a focus on those infectious and parasitic diseases carried by wild mammals that can affect humans.

Beginning as a college Freshman, Mr. Pinto assisted with mammal inventories and conducted a study on the diet of phyllostomine bats. He also participated in a study of the distributional patterns of several bat species using museum collections, and a study exploring the host-parasite relation between rats and botflies. Currently, he is investigating mammal reservoir hosts of trypanosomes, especially opossums and rats as well as coauthoring the description of a new species of bat in the genus Lophostoma. He has served as Research assistant for the study “Prevalence of Trypanosoma cruzi in marsupials, rodents and canids in several localities of Ecuador as part of the Research in Infectious Diseases Laboratory at Universidad Católica. He was the President of the Association of Biology Students, was the Coordinator of a workshop titled “Introduction to the field methods for the study of mammals in Ecuador” and was a Volunteer curatorial assistant at the Vertebrate Zoology Museum QCAZ, at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

Mr. Pinto says: "In my country, Ecuador, the infrastructure to conduct scientific research is extremely poor and few Ecuadorians have published mammalian studies. While we do have the people to do it, and vast tracts of protected forests, we lack the economic resources and the education policy to properly study our environment. My life goal is to obtain knowledge and practical experience that will allow me to conduct research and to succeed in an academic career."

On the personal side: “I am very curious and it is my principal characteristic. Science has been important to my life. Ever since I was a kid I have been spending many hours reading books about animals, literature, history and geography; always trying to understand my world beyond school. Short stories and novels are my favorites; I like those written by Julio Cortazar and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. One Hundred Years of Solitude is my favorite book. Like a good Ecuadorian, I love the food and the landscapes of my country.”

Title: Identity of an unusual bear from Alaska: The first documented wild hybrid bear (Ursus americanus X Ursus arctos)?

Hypothesis: The bear is 1) the first wild black/brown hybrid recorded; 2) the bear is a melanistic brown bear; 3) the bear is the biggest black bear ever recorded; and 4) the bear represents an undescribed Pleistocene relict.

Project Summary: In the mammal collections of the USNM there is an unusual giant bear skull from Alaska. This skull will be compared, using morphometric techniques, with a series of black bears (Ursus americanus), and brown bears (Ursus arctos). The resulting data will allow to show inter- and intraspecific variations among extant bears from Alaska, and identify this bear skull.

Project Description: Some years ago, an unusual male bear was hunted in Alaska, and the skull was donated to the mammal collections of the USNM. The overall size suggests this is a brown bear however, dental morphology matches descriptions of black bears. Moreover, the collector reported the fur color and behavior were like that of a black bear (the skin was not saved, but photographs confirm that the fur was black). On the other hand, mitochondrial DNA analysis suggests that the mother was a brown bear (closest to the Japanese population of brown bears). All evidence suggests four possible explanations about the identity of the bear: 1) the bear is the first wild black/brown hybrid recorded; 2) the bear is a melanistic brown bear; 3) the bear is the biggest black bear ever recorded; and 4) the bear represents an undescribed Pleistocene relict. The focus of this research is to test these hypotheses using morphometric analyses of molar teeth. The resulting data will permit the identification of this bear skull, and show inter- and intraspecific variation among extant bears from Alaska. Additionally, the results would be valid to compare the methods used here with the traditional approaches to distinguish between black and brown bears skulls.

Materials and Methods: The skull of the unidentified bear will be compared with a series of black, brown, and extinct Pleistocene bears in the USNM collections. To avoid geographical variation all the animals that will be examined are from Alaska. To avoid variation resulting from ontogenic changes or sexual dimorphism, only skulls of adult males will be used. Bear age will be determined by dental characteristics. Overall measurements will be taken with a digital caliper. Digital pictures of the upper right molar rows will be taken. Specific landmarks representing homologous structures in both species will be identified and these landmarks will be digitized using the computer program TPSdig. Morphometric analysis will be performed using Procrustes analysis, which overlay the different set of landmarks of each individual, so is possible to visualize differences in shape. Results will be analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA).

Adrienne Sussman
asussm03@simons-rock.edu

Ms. Sussman is from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. Although only 16, she is currently a Freshman at Simon's Rock College of Bard, an early entry college for younger scholars located in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She is majoring in Biology. Before transferring to Bard, she attended Mercersburg Academy, a competitive preparatory high school.

Ms. Sussman has traveled extensively including visits to Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, but has not yet engaged in a focused natural history research topic.

Ms. Sussman has been awarded the Mercersburg Academy Biology Award and the Bausch and Lomb Science Award.

Hypothesis: The hypothesis for this study is that a relationship will be found between coat pattern and skull morphology among these squirrels. I predict that certain cranial traits will be associated with particular coat colorations; for example, the study may find that the size of the molars is larger in a population with a particular coloration. Also, cranial differences, as well as the more obvious coloration variations, are expected to be found from island to island. In particular, I hypothesize that a particularly large number of unique features will be found in the squirrels from the island of Borneo in relation to those of Sumatra or the Malay Peninsula. Borneo was the first of these islands to be separated by sea, and appears to have been separated by areas of savannah before the sea levels rose (Voris 2000; Meijaard 2003). In addition, Borneo traditionally tends to have a distinctive fauna as compared to the other islands of the area. Finally, I predict that the anticipated correlations between physical features and distribution in the squirrels will be unrelated to squirrel size from island to island. Such size distribution has already been analyzed (Heaney,1977).

Project Summary: At the moment, the tri-colored squirrels of South East Asia are recognized as comprising a single species, Callosciurus prevostii. However, coat colorations and patterns and cranial differences between the C. prevostii on the various islands of the region may indicate that the squirrels belong to not one but three separate species. Theories on the history of the biogeography of the Malaysian peninsula and surrounding islands support the hypothesis that these squirrels may have been separated long enough to evolve into distinct species. A study of the physical features of these animals, concentrating on the coats and skulls, may reveal a relationship between morphological variations and distribution, which will in turn indicate that the squirrels may indeed belong to three species.

Project Description: During the last glacial maximum, the Sunda shelf, on which sits modern day Malaysia, Borneo, Java, Sumatra, and many smaller islands, was exposed as a solid dry land mass (Heaney 1984; Voris 2000; Dam et al. 2001). However, regions of savannah grassland are believed to have separated the rainforest areas of the land mass, preventing much migration and subsequent gene flow from area to area (Meijaard, 2003; Gorog, Sinaga, and Engstrom, 2004; Heaney, 1991). Thus, despite the relatively recent oceanic separation of the South East Asian islands, it is quite possible that the mammals on these islands would have been confined to separate areas long before the Pleistocene epoch; Gorog, Sinaga, and Engstrom even suggest that such separations may have occurred as long ago as the Pliocene epoch. Initial examination of C. prevostii indicate that the variations in coat pattern and color may be larger than expected for a single species, perhaps because the squirrels have been separated far longer than initially believed, as described above. The colors and patterns of the fur of the tri-colored squirrels range quite extensively; one subspecies is truly only bicolored, with only a small stripe on the side of the second color, while the coat of another subspecies contains four colors arranged in a variety of spots and stripes. To pursue this hypothesis that the squirrels of C. prevostii actually belong to several distinct species, careful analysis will be made of body size and coat color in the wide geographic range that the squirrels inhabit. Besides comparisons of body length and pattern for the various areas, the skulls of the specimens from the areas will also be measured using a digitizer and compared. Any strong correlations among these features and location may indicate that the squirrels are indeed of different species, and will provide a basis on which to conduct future genetic tests. Such a conclusion would not only supply additional evidence for the scientific theories on the biogeographic history of South East Asia, but would also strongly affect the conservation status of the squirrels. If the taxonomy of the animals were to be changed so that they were recognized as distinct species, then each of these species would also become recognized as endangered. Thus, such a decision would greatly protect the squirrels from the extinction which currently threatens the populations on some of the islands.

Materials and Methods: In this research, the Callosciurus prevostii specimens of the Smithsonian Museum will be utilized. The digitizer will be used in making skull measurements on these specimens. In addition, participation in the American Society of Mammalogists Annual Meeting will be necessary, as several of the scheduled lectures have immediate relevance to this project.

Mauricio Rafael Torres Mejia
rmtome@hotmail.com

Mr. Torres is from Bucaramanga, Colombia. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at Universidad Industrial de Santander in Bucaramanga, Colombia where he is majoring in Biology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in ichthyology, specifcally the Characiformes, a very diverse freshwater fish order, principally distributed in South America but still relatively little known. He hopes to become an authority on some family or subfamily of this order and to work in South America as a University professor conducting evolutionary biology research focused on freshwater fishes and especially, the family of Characiformes.

While focused on the study of fishes, Mr. Torres says he wants to be a writer, "One of the kind that likes to tell to others its experiences with living beings, sending its sober style papers to journals where some unidentified editors decide what should be published or not. In few words I want to be a so called “researcher biologist.”

He is co-author of a project for the governmental Colombian institution COLCIENCIAS studying the Physical and Chemical characteristics of a high mountain tropical lake and served as a field assistant in the Limnology Laboratory of the Universidad Industrial de Santander.

On the personal side: Mr. Torres is also a very keen naturalist and good photographer. He keeps written records of detailed natural and morphological descriptions and photographs of all fishes he has seen and collected in the wild, especially New World tropical fishes.

Title: Description of a new Creagrutus species (TELEOSTEI: CHARACIFORMES: CHARACIDAE) from the Rio Magdalena basin, Colombia

Hypothesis: A recently sampled Creagrutus population from the Río Magdalena basin is a new species.

Project Summary: The purpose of the project is to determine whether a recently sampled Creagrutus population from the Río Magdalena basin (Colombia) represents a new species. The determination will be carried out based on morphometric and meristic features supplemented by myological, osteological and coloration character states. These data will be compared with other Creagrutus species. The results of these comparisons will be used to describe and diagnose this species, and to determine its phylogenetic relationships.

Project Description: Creagrutus Günther (1864) has currently 66 recognized species, which are distributed through much of South America and Panamá. The members of the genus are most abundant and diverse in swift currents and piedmont rivers. Although Creagrutus has an uncertain phylogenetic position within the probably non-monophyletic Characidae, it has been hypothesized to be monophyletic (Vari and Harold, 2001). The trans- and cis-Andean Creagrutus species have been revised by Harold and Vari (1994) and Vari and Harold (2001), respectively, who dramatically increased the number of recognized species. Furthermore, this diversity continues to rise as a consequence of continuing collecting efforts in many poorly explored regions of South America (i.e. Vari and Lima, 2003; Ribeiro et al., 2004). This could also be the case in the Río Magdalena basin, which although it is the best sampled basin in Colombia, it includes numerous low order rivers that have received little attention (Cala, 1987). For example, some fishes recently captured in that basin fail to match previously described species. The principal objective of this project is to determine if this sample corresponds to a new species. In addition, this information will be analyzed in a phylogenetic context to determine the relationships of this species.

The methodology to be followed is that of Harold and Vari (1994) and Vari and Harold (2001). It includes morphometric and meristic features, plus the determination of myological, osteological and coloration character states. The resultant information will be used to describe and diagnose this probable new species. The phylogenetic analysis will be carried out utilizing cladistic methods.

If the sample in question should not prove to be a new species, the information will be utilized in a redescription of the species to which the material belongs.

Materials and Methods: Morphometric and meristic data will be taken following Harold & Vari (1994) and Vari & Harold (2001). Vertebral counts will be determined using radiographs. Some specimens will be dissected to observe myological and osteological characters, with the latter observed in specimens cleared and double-stained for bone and cartilage, using the method of Taylor & Van Dyke (1985). The phylogenetic analysis will be carried out using cladistic software (i.e. PAUP 3.1.1, Swofford, 1993).

Jorge Velez
jorgefossilhunter@hotmail.com

Mr. Velez is from Isabela, Puerto Rico. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico where he is majoring in Geology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in paleontology.

Mr. Velez has experience in collecting and analyzing fossils from Puerto Rico including sirenians, elasmobranches, crustaceans, seeds and amber. Last semester he worked on an undergraduate research project collecting and analyzing fossil shark and ray teeth from Puerto Rico. During the spring semester of 2004 Mr. Velez joined field research in Texas and New Mexico and also collected fossil Decapods in Northwestern and Southwestern Puerto Rico. He is a member of the member of the Geological Society of Puerto Rico and works part-time as an assistant in the University of Puerto Rico Geology Museum.

On the personal side: "I first started collecting fossils at the age of 8, when I found my first fossil. One of my favorite pastimes is reading books and papers about paleontology and because of that I have been making my own reference library. I think that field work is the best way to learn about geology and paleontology, and is something I really enjoy. Last February I attended the 21st Annual Symposium on Caribbean Geology - Caribbean Paleontology and Biostratigraphy, where I gave a presentation about the fossil elasmobranches from Puerto Rico, and was able to do field work with paleontologists from England and Jamaica who specialize in rudist bivalves. This semester I'm doing an undergraduate research project on fossils echinodermata from Puerto Rico."

Hypothesis: The microvertebrates from the Quarry Nine microvertebrate site of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation will help develop a detailed understanding of the depositional environment, taphonomic history and paleoecology, highlighting the importance of microvertebrates for paleoecological interpretation.

Project Summary: For this study, fossils collected from Quarry Nine microvertebrate site from the Morrison Formation will be used to develop a detailed understanding of the depositional environment, taphonomic history and paleoecology of Quarry Nine, highlighting the importance of microvertebrates for paleoecological interpretations. Fieldwork in search of additional microvertebrate sites in central and northwestern Wyoming will also be conducted. Comparisons of the fossils collected during fieldwork with specimens at the USNM and at the Peabody Museum of Natural History will also be made. Studying the microvertebrates will also help in the more general understanding of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation, providing a context for interpreting the paleoenvironment and paleoecology of this rich dinosaur fauna. Also, the paleoecological interpretation proposed by Simpson (1926a) will be re-examined.

Project Description: The Late Jurassic Morrison Formation is one of the richest dinosaur-bearing strata in the world (Dodson et al. 1980), and has provided a wealth of data on life during this time interval. It represents a semi-arid river floodplain environment where dinosaurs, mammals and other vertebrates flourished. Unfortunately, the paleoecology of this environment remains poorly understood. This is partly because most Morrison sites preserve only large animals. Small vertebrates, such as amphibians and lizards, are uncommon but can be important indicators of temperature, salinity, and other environmental factors. In 1879 William Reed discovered a microvertebrate site in the Late Jurassic Morrison formation at Como Bluff, Wyoming, while working for O.C. Marsh (Ostrom and McIntosh 1999). The locality, called Quarry Nine, yielded the single most important collection of Late Jurassic mammals and other small vertebrates (Simpson 1926a). The mammals represent the most abundant fossils and include 244 of the 250 mammal specimens known from the Jurassic of North America (Prothero 1981). The other vertebrates found in this locality have also been studied, but mostly for taxonomic purposes. For this project, fieldwork will be conducted in central and northwestern Wyoming in search of more sites that could yield microvertebrate remains for use in this study. Quarry Nine is a remarkable window into Late Jurassic ecosystems, but despite this, its paleoecological implications have not been studied since Simpson (1926a).

The microvertebrates from Quarry Nine were originally described by O.C. Marsh (Simpson 1926a). The mammals were later studied by Simpson (1927, 1928) and Prothero (1981). The rhynchocephalians were studied by Gilmore (1909) and Simpson (1926b), while the amphibians were studied by Evans and Milner (1993). Nearly all of these works are taxonomic, however. The only comprehensive paleoecological relationship of the fauna was done by Simpson (1926a) who proposed a food chain relationship between the organisms. Dodson et al. (1980) reported that Quarry Nine occurs in their lithofacies C (drab mudstone), representing channels and channel tops occurring in poorly drained floodplain, but this information has not been integrated into the site’s paleoecology. Fossils collected from Quarry Nine of the Late Jurassic Morrison Formation will be identified and analyzed for data concerning their taphonomy, environment of deposition and paleoecology. With this information I will develop a paleoecological reconstruction of the Quarry Nine material and the importance of microvertebrates in paleoecological interpretations and re-examine Simpson’s (1926a) original paleoecological hypothesis.

Materials and Methods: Identification and analysis of fossils using a Zeiss Stemi SV 6 microscope, and photo documentation of fossils using a Nikon digital camera. Field preparation of vertebrate fossils, using field consolidants and plaster jackets. Abundance analysis of the different taxonomic groups of microvertebrates will be used for the paleoecological implication they may reveal by comparing these relative abundances to those of several modern environments. The statistical analysis of fossils will be conducted using the Systat program.

Lee Zelewicz
zellee@lycoming.edu

Mr. Zelewicz is from Laporte, Pennsylvania. He is currently a Sophomore at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania where he is majoring in Sociology/Anthropology and Music with a minor in Archaeology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in Ethno Musicology.

While in high school, Mr. Zelewicz was involved with an oral history project that recorded the local customs and history of his home area. In an attempt to save the history of he local culture, the Northern Tier Cultural Alliance and Mansfield University had volunteers go into the field to discover and record the history and folkways of the region. Recently, he joined an archaeological excavation at Canfield Island in Pennsylvania. He has also served as an assistant for an archaeological survey of a possible site on the Eastern Delaware Nation’s property.

He received the B’nai B’rith Community Service Citation, Habitat for Humanity Volunteer of the Year award, and the John Philip Sousa Award.

Mr. Zelewicz says he's "highly interested in researching Native American Culture because I am part Tuscarora, and I would like to rediscover my family’s heritage. I want to work with people and to probe the ways and ideas of their differing cultures."

On the personal side: Mr. Zelewicz enjoys music and theater, and performs in several college choirs and bands, including the Williamsport Chamber Choir and the Williamsport Symphony Orchestra. He is the resident advisor for his dorm.

Title: Analysis of Sandstone from Seven Bayon Sculptures (Khmer Culture) of Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Hypothesis: The hypothesis is that a group of Khmer (12th-13th Century) sculptures appear to have been carved from an unusual sandstone that appears to have a large fraction of angular clast and matrix grains of feldspar and quartz. This sandstone may reflect a distinctive lithologic unit, or even have been derived from the same source.

Project Summary: The project is an archeometric study of the chemical and textural properties of chips of this sandstone, taken from the sculptures, that is directed at their provenance. The kingdom of Angkor underwent four phases of development: 1) settlement approximately 4,000 years ago; 2) a delta state; 3) trade bypassing; and 4) establishment of an organized regional government. At the peak of Angkor's society (AD 800 - 1432), the temple of Angkor Wat was erected under Suryavarman II. A group of sculptures within Angkor Wat were carved from what appears, from macro- and some microscopic study, to be the same type of sandstone. The sandstone of the sculptures differs from that used in other sculptures from the temple. Thin sections from these seven Khmer statues will be compared, using cathodoluminesence (CL) petrography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The purpose of this project is to obtain additional data relevant to the provenance of the material used in these sculptures.

Project Description: More than 4,000 years ago, a new culture developed in the Mekong Delta. Farmers, most likely from China, inhabited the area during the prehistoric Iron Age. An infusion of Indian culture began to shape the society that would ultimately express itself in Angkor Wat. As the society developed, the religious followings of Vishnu and other Indian deities became apparent in their art. A delta state came into being between AD 150 and 550. The culture expanded through trade, which was focused on the export of rice. Cities were connected by a canal system, indicating a large-scale organization of the culture. The states were controlled by an elite class that pushed out the earlier, kinship-based control of the region. Trade attracted more cultural influences from the Indian subcontinent. Sea-faring trade routes cut the Delta out of trade and forced a reconstruction of current states. In what is now Cambodia, new interior states formed between AD 550 and 800. Archaeological evidence shows that numerous kings ruled parts of the region at concurrent times. Late in the life of these small states, these rulers began fighting for regional control. A king named Ishanavarman took control over the greater area, but he had to fight many battles to keep it. His great-grandson, Jayavarman I, was a key figure in renovating the system of regional control. Jayavarman I redesigned positions of power. Royal orders became pertinent, as Jayavarman I created a state that became wealthy through agriculture. The peak of power in Angkor was reached between AD 800 and 1432. Jayavarman II took regional control when he moved the capital to Angkor. Attainment of wealth allowed larger political action and architectural accomplishment. Large-scale building projects were begun, and, because kings became associated with the gods, temples were built to honor the king (Highman 2001). A later successor of Jayavarman II named Suryavarman II erected Angkor Wat during his reign. He built the temple south of Angkor to separate it from other temples, and therefore distinguish it. The temple expresses the peak (AD 1113 - 1150) of Angkor society; it literally towered over all other temples. Temple construction mixed architecture and religious belief. The main building was aligned with astronomical phenomena, and architectural proportions were based on the calendar. For example, the number of cubits built into an inner wall would express a specific number of days or a season. The temple, its structures, and art work help to define the culture that once dominated the area of the Mekong Delta (Mannikka 1996).

The Bayon-Type Sculptures: Seven of the sculptures found in Angkor Wat consist of a distinctive material. The parent rock of this group of Bayon-type (AD 1177-1237) sculptures was apparently a mix of volcanic and shallow intermediate igneous rocks. The group includes the following five sculptures: Buddha Head (K93 B836), Lokesvara (K1695 B322), Jayavarman VII assis (K1703 B347), Jayavarman VII assis (K2851), and The Riek head (K3089). The similarities and differences between these pieces will be evaluated by constructing detailed petrographic descriptions of each material.

Thin sections from these sculptures will be compared using advanced microbeam instruments that can determine the structure and chemical composition of minerals: SEM, CL, X-ray diffraction, and ICP-MS. These techniques can establish relationships between the grains within each of the samples. Preliminary study of the rocks has indicated that they may share the same provenance.

Materials and Methods: This type of sandstone contains abundant quartz and feldspar. Both of these minerals may show dramatically different types of CL, depending on their minor and trace element contents. Also, both may show evidence for the way the minerals crystallized, which might be used to distinguish primary igneous from weathered or recrystallized grains. CL is produced by minor and trace element substitutions in both quartz and feldspar. The SEM technique highlights differences in major elements across and between grains of feldspar. A combination of CL and SEM is likely to be an effective descriptor of the relationships between samples, and determine the degree to which each sample has undergone metamorphism. The chemical composition will also be compared using the ICP-MS.

University of Notre Dame - National Museum of Natural History
Internship Program in Anthropology
List of Participants
2004

Andrew Gaudreau | Kathryn Musica

The Notre Dame - NMNH Internship Program in Anthropology initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is an opportunity for two currently enrolled University of Notre Dame undergraduate students to spend ten weeks during the summer of 2004 participating in an internship with a Smithsonian anthropologist.

Students will partner with a Smithsonian anthropologist to investigate an anthropological research topic or engage in the daily activities of one of our anthropological units pr laboratories as well as join in a series of lectures, workshops, demonstrations, and behind-the-scenes tours.

This program is being hosted at the National Museum of Natural History in partnership with our Research Training Program (RTP).

Application Information '04

University of Notre Dame - National Museum of Natural History
Internship Program in Anthropology

Gender: Male.
Ethnicity/Race: Caucasian
Institution: University of Notre Dame
Status: Sophomore.
Major: Anthropology.

Career Goals:

Andrew Gaudreau
agaudrea@nd.edu

Mr. Gaudreau is from Annapolis, Maryland. He is currently a Sophomore at the University of Notre Dame where he is majoring in Anthropology (focus on Socio-cultural studies) and French. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Notre Dame he plans to pursue a Ph.D. and then achieve a career teaching Anthropology at a university.

Mr. Gaudreau is interested in the Caribbean, and hopes to conduct research either in Haiti, Martinique or Guadaloupe (studying Haitian migrants) during the summer of 2005. He is also interested in transnationalism and would like to investigate these research opportunities while studying in Angers, France during the 2004-2005 academic year. He has received the U.S. Marine Corps Distinguised Athletic Award in May 2002 and was the Princeton Book Award Winner in June 2001. He helped establish the Leadership Training Program, a program in the Annapolis area focused on sustained regular interaction with youths to foster leadership and interpersonal skills.

On the personal side:

Research Advisor:

Jake Homiak
301-238-6655
homiak.jake@nmnh.si.edu

Director, Anthropology Collections and Archives Program; National Anthropological Archives / Human Studies Film Archives. B.A. (1969) Franklin & Marshall College; M.A. (1975) U.S. International University; Ph.D. (1985) Brandeis University. Research specialties: Ethnographic film research, historical footage, visual anthropology, Caribbean ethnology, Creolization and Diaspora Studies, Jamaican and Rastafari ethnology. Science Unit: Department of Anthropology.

Hypothesis: The phenomenon of Rastafari transnationalism is likely to be one among a variety of types which can be shaped by race and power. Rastafari, founded on the ideals of equality and justice, is not likely to be transnationally homogenous because even within Rastafari communities there are considerable differences of resource and power with respect to groups and individuals.

Project Summary: Globalization is a key theme which pervades many aspects of modern life, but it especially has had an effect on Rastafari communities throughout the world. Through developments such as the popularization of reggae music, increased travel by Rastafari Elders, and the accelerated networking of Rastafari communities throughout the world, Rastafari has become a transnational culture which transcends barriers such as language, ethnicity, race, gender, and nationality. This project will involve documentation of this international phenomenon through preparation for a forthcoming exhibit entitled “Discovering Rastafari” at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. This will entail videotape and audiotape transcription, working with and collecting cultural artifacts, as well as the digitization of photographs concerning Dr. Homiak’s fieldwork.

Through this preparation, the researcher will examine the theme of transnationalism using Rastafari as a case study. The goal of the project is to develop a statement of what constitutes “transnational culture.” This will be examined from several perspectives including Rastafari history, ideology and social practice, and the current social, cultural and political factors which shape the Rastafari Movement.

Project Description: This project will entail the transcription of both audiotape and videotape materials which Dr. Homiak has collected through his ethnographic work with Rastafari over the past 24 years. It will include producing an inventory of both popular and traditional Rastafari cultural artifacts, as well as the digitization of photographs concerning Dr. Homiak’s fieldwork. Objects such as ephemeral newspaper will be used by the researcher to determine the ways in which Rastafari have developed as a transnational community and to understand their experience of Diaspora, and how they imagine themselves as a community and a nation.

To complement this work, the researcher will attend a number of Rastafari community meetings in Washington, D.C. to observe and interact with local members firsthand. In addition, he will maintain contact with a number of Dr. Homiak’s informants throughout the Diaspora. Finally, the researcher will travel to Martinique, if funding is provided. The purpose of this trip is to collect unique Rastafari artifacts from the Francophone Caribbean which will contribute to the exhibit. In addition, it is an opportunity for the researcher to explore and develop his own interests concerning transnationalism, immigration networks, creolization and Diaspora, with particular emphasis on Haiti.

Throughout the course of the project, the researcher will develop a bibliography of scholarly articles concerning transnational culture alongside Dr. Homiak. He will use these writings as well as other material holdings to approach the intersection of Rastafari and transnationalism from several perspectives. These will include understanding the Rastafari Movement as a transnational phenomenon from its point of inception, with special focus on the ideologies (i.e. Pan-Africanism and Ethiopianism) which contributed to its transnational development. Attention will also be given to the social traditions and practices which perpetuate Rastafari as a transnational movement, and the social, cultural and political factors that shape Rastafari as a transnational culture which transcends language, ethnicity, race, gender, and nationality across the Caribbean region and beyond.

Materials and Methods: The researcher will use the media equipment at the Human Studies Film Archives at the Museum Support Center to transcribe Dr. Homiak’s audiotape and videotape materials. Photographs to be shown in the exhibit will be scanned at the Museum Support Center’s Digitization Lab, and the researcher will also use FileMaker Pro database to log Rastafari cultural artifacts.

Research Results

Virtual Poster

Project Summary

Letter of Gratitude

University of Notre Dame - National Museum of Natural History
Internship Program in Anthropology

Gender: Female.
Ethnicity/Race: Caucasian
Institution: University of Notre Dame
Status: Junior.
Major: Anthropology.

Career Goals:

Kathryn Musica
kmusica@nd.edu

Ms. Musica is from Washington, DC. A Junior at the University of Notre Dame majoring in Anthropology, she is currently participating in a semester abroad, studying in London, England. After earning an undergraduate degree she plans to go to graduate school in anthropology, archaeology, and museum studies. She is interested in physical anthropology and especially comparative analysis of primates and evolution, archaeology, and linguistics.

Ms. Musica's academic career began in the hard sciences (physics and chemistry) and she spent the summer of 2002 working at the Vitreous State Laboratory at Catholic University. The VSL has received wide recognition as one of the outstanding university centers for the study of glassy materials, doing research in both the fundamental properties of glasses and in applications in such areas as fiber optics, mechanical properties, and nuclear waste treatment. Ms. Musica worked in the lab that is responsible for developing and testing glass that will encapsulate the nuclear waste from the Hanford Site in Washington.

Last summer, Ms. Musica volunteered at the Smithsonian (NMNH) in the Department of Anthropology initializing the enormous task of digitizing the museum’s collection and storing the photos on CD in anticipation of making the entire collection available on the internet as a virtual museum. For her contribution, Ms. Musica focused mainly on pottery from the American Southwest, learning about its characteristics and the cultures that produced it as well as how to best photograph it.

On the personal side: Kate is in the Honors Program at Notre Dame and has sampled many different areas of science and social science, including physics, chemistry, math, psychology, and economics, on her search for the right major. While finding that anthropology was her favorite subject, she is still involved in taking classes in other areas to keep a broad base of knowledge. She has always lived in Washington DC and is happy to be back again this summer at the Smithsonian which she frequented so much as a child.

Research Advisor:

William Billeck
202 633-8993

Archaeologist. B.A. (1976) Queens College; M.S. (1980) University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Ph.D. (1993) University of Missouri. Research specialties: North American Archaeology, Plains Indians, repatriation. Science Unit: Department of Anthropology, Repatriation.

Title: Museum Sculptures of Native Americans

Hypothesis: The historical context of the Native American busts in the Physical Anthropology Division of the Department of Anthropology can be uncovered.

Project Summary: The Museum Sculptures of Native Americans project addresses the origin and subjects of the Native American busts stored in the Anthropology Department at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and at the Museum Support Center. The busts are plaster casts that display the facial features, hair, and shoulders of individuals. Facemask molds, head measurements, and photographs were taken of numerous living Native Americans from the 1870s to 1930s. Sculptors then created busts based on the facemask molds, measurements, and photographs of the individual. Archival research will determine who made the original facemask molds, who made the subsequent busts, who the subjects are, and why the masks and busts were made. This project will attempt to uncover the historical context of these busts, which are now part of the Department of Anthropology, Physical Anthropology Division.

Project Description: A similar project was started in 1951-52 by Dr. M.T. Newman who made an inventory of all the busts, facemask molds, and casts in the Physical Anthropology Department. He created a summary of the accession information for some of the face casts and busts. This information will be verified by a thorough investigation into the history of these Native American busts. Research will be conducted to ascertain all possible background information on the Native American busts, more specifically on the Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Crow, and Osage Tribe busts. Original accession data, catalogue cards, ledgers, and other primary sources such as correspondence letters, photographs, and field notes will be examined.

Information will also be gleaned from the actual busts and facemask molds and casts, as most of the busts record the names of the individuals who were cast and their tribal affiliation. Photos taken of the individuals at the time that the facemasks were made will be used to link the busts, molds, casts, names, and pictures together for a complete integrated record of the individual. Research into the names of the facemask mold individuals, the museum staff that made the molds and busts, and other involved individuals will be conducted at the National Anthropological Archives and the Anthropology Department Library. Digital photographs will also be taken of the busts. The goal is for all the background material to be collected so it can be discovered why these molds and busts were made. The findings will be published in a journal article discussing the busts and their origins.

Materials and Methods: The researcher will use the microfilm reader to study the accession information, will make copies of the catalogue cards, and will take digital photographs of the busts for the records. Research will be conducted at the National Anthropological Archives and the Anthropology Department Library. The researcher will take care to handle the busts properly when examining them.

National Museum of Natural History
Research Experiences for Teachers
List of Nominees
2004

Virginia Azuree | Doris Muller

The Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is an opportunity for high school science teachers to spend five weeks during the month of July participating in the research activities with a Smithsonian scientist.

Teachers partner with a Smithsonian scientist to investigate a natural history research topic as well as participate in a series of lectures, workshops, demonstrations, behind-the-scenes tours, and field trips.

The goals of the RET program (ref: NSF 02-090) are to establish long-term collaborative, mutually rewarding relationships between researchers and classroom science teachers, targeting high school teachers from inner city schools and less well endowed school districts. The hope is to bring new insight into the daily classroom by providing a research opportunity for those teachers who have not had any prior experience and to provide sustained follow-up interaction between the host mentor and supported teacher and their classroom. Funding is from the biological sciences with emphasis on projects within this scientific arena.

The RET at the Smithsonian initiative will be hosted at the National Museum of Natural History in partnership with our Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, called the Research Training Program (RTP).

Research Experiences for Teachers

Gender: Female.
Ethnicity/Race:
Institution: Richard Montgomery High School.
Status: Chemistry and Biology Teacher.

Sponsor: Participation in the 2004 summer session of the Research Experiences for Teachers is pending the award of a supplement grant from National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates program - Award #DBI-0243512.

Virginia Azuree - PROGRAM CANCELED
vazuree@comcast.net

Ms. Azuree has a BS and MS in Biochemistry from Mary Washington College and a Masters of Education from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is a "career-changer" coming to education from a background in the pharmaceutical and medical research industries. She is in her fourth year as a teacher at Richard Montgomery High School, having 20 years prior experience as a medical subject heading indexer for the National Library of Medicine. She has experienced at literature searching and served as a database supervisor for AIDS Clinical Trials. She has lab bench experience at the National Institute of Health (NIH) identifying and isolating proteins.

Ms. Azuree speaks Portuguese and French as well as understanding Spanish. This allows a unique rapport with her school's diverse population. She is also learning Mandarin as well as Russian.

About my school: Richard Montgomery High School serves a diverse population of approximately 1,900 students in grades 9 through 12. Our school is located in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington D.C. Over the past several years, the school has been featured in Newsweek magazine as one the top 100 schools in the nation. Richard Montgomery High School was recently awarded the Blue Ribbon in Education Award by the United States Department of Education. We believe in providing a strong academic program with high expectations and rigor. Richard Montgomery High School is proud to be home to one of the top International Baccalaureate Programs in the world as well as the new Middle Years Programme for outstanding students.

The current student enrollment is: 1,851

We encourage all of our students to push themselves to achieve the most that they can. We have special programs for our African American and Hispanic students, two population who have traditionally been left behind in the push for greater academic rigor.

About my classroom: I currently teach MYP chemistry and Honors Chemistry. The MYP program is designed to prepare students for participation in the International Baccalaureate and AP classes. I wrote the curriculum for MYP chemistry that we use at Richard Montgomery High School. Our focus includes areas of interaction including the environment, community service, approaches to learning, and health systems.

What I'll bring back to my classroom after a summer at the Smithsonian: Most of my previous laboratory research experience involved proteins, hormones, and body systems of living organisms. My data was for present day and future projections. I am fascinated by Dr. Owsley’s work because I will be looking at data that provides a window into the past. Teenagers are extraordinarily present focused. I see one of my jobs in teaching/learning to help them expand that narrow vision, not just to the often encouraged future but to learning from the past. This way they can see themselves in the whole picture of human growth and civilization. I have recently brought more of the history of science into the classroom by providing the “rest of the story” so to speak of various discoveries and ideas. My students are galvanized by seeing these past scientists as real human beings within a culture and society that heavily impacted their thoughts, discoveries, everyday life. Another aspect of Dr. Owsley’s work that I hope to learn from is that my students are often convinced of whatever they see on the internet and the process of using data to come to possible conclusions (emphasis on possible) is foreign to them. I intend to journal this summer so that my experience will be as alive as possible – mistakes, serendipity, sometimes the tedious but necessary plowing through data to find the nugget of gold.

My hope is that Dr. Owsley and I will continue to communicate by email and/or telephone. I would like to bring my students out to the Smithsonian to see the collection relevant to my summer work. In addition, I think that Dr. Owsley might benefit by hearing from my students in the sense that I would present parts of what I have done over the summer – in terms of technique and search strategies and have my students respond. In other words, to have my students critique my work. This can be a very generative process. Students are constantly confronted with critique from their teachers; it can be an enormous learning experience for teachers to be critiqued by their students. I would like to be able to present my students with the areas of research where we got stuck and see what they might have to say.

I speak Portuguese and French as well as understanding Spanish. This allows me a rapport with so many of our school’s population. It is astonishing how the children respond when you are able to communicate with them in their home language! I am attempting to learn a little Mandarin and perhaps a touch of Russian although the latter is truly hard for me to keep in my head.

Research Advisor:

Dr. Douglas Owsley
Phone: (202) 786-2553
E-mail: owsley.douglas@nmnh.si.edu

Curator, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1973) University of Wyoming; M.A. (1975), Ph.D. (1978) University of Tennessee. Research specialties: skeletal biology; forensic anthropology; historic populations in North America; North American Plains Indians; Polynesia. Science Unit: Department of Anthropology.

Project Title: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analyses of Colonial Period Human Skeletons from Virginia and Maryland

Project Description: This research project involves a team of 2 science teachers in the analysis of stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data recovered from human remains from several colonial period sites in Virginia and Maryland. The usefulness of isotopic analyses in studying diet has been well-documented (Vogel and van der Merwe 1977; van der Merwe and Vogel 1978; Ambrose and DeNiro 1986; Keegan 1989; Buikstra and Milner 1991; Tieszen et al. 1992). The method is based on differences in the isotopic signals of foods and the transmission of these differences to the tissues of the consumer (DeNiro and Epstein 1978, 1981). Dietary patterns are distinguishable by measuring these differences, with the values presented as ÿ13C (delta carbon) and ÿ15N (delta nitrogen) values in parts per mil.

Previous research has shown a difference in the carbon isotope signatures of historic period Americans versus western Europeans, with the former having more positive values (Ubelaker and Owsley 2003). This difference has been traced to greater dependence on corn (maize) in the New World, versus cereal grains such as wheat, barley, and rye in Europe. The distinction between these plant groups is a biochemical difference in photosynthesis (i.e., C3 versus C4 photosynthesis pathways) which is transferred through the food chain, resulting in a bone isotope signal that characterizes the place of origin. Thus, with Historic populations, a more positive isotopic signature is more likely to indicate long-standing residence in the Americas. More negative values are characteristic of western European diets.

This work is being conducted as part of a comprehensive temporal study of Colonial period European and African skeletal remains from Maryland and Virginia. Previously, we have analyzed Chesapeake samples provided by Historic St. Marys City, Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Colonial National Historical Park, the U.S. Army, Darnalls Chance, Flowerdew Hundred, and several others. Permission has been obtained to sample additional remains at the National Museum of Natural History. Samples from selected specimens will be sent to the Stable Isotope Laboratory of Augustana College, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for processing and analysis.

The teacher working on this project will:

1) Assist with the selection and basic description of additional samples from the NMNH skeletal collection.
2) Complete background research on stable isotope analysis for dietary reconstruction including
a) a literature search for comparative data, and
b) a review of Colonial period dietary practices

3) Complete a directed statistical analysis of specific components of the data.

4) Summarize the findings.

Ms. Muller is a first year chemistry teacher at St. John's College High School in Washington, DC. She earned a BA in Anthropology and Chemistry and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.

About my school: St. John's College High School is a private Catholic school in Northwest Washington, DC. The student profile is 53% White, 27% African American, 10% Hispanic, 5% Asian, and 5% Miscellaneous. St. John's is not an
"academically elite" school. It enrolls students having a wide range of academic abilities. There are programs for students with various learning disabilities as well as advanced placement classes for students capable of more challenging curriculum. Students are admitted to the school based more upon the wish of the family for their child to have a strong Catholic upbringing and a safe school environment than on academic achievement. Tuition assistance is available to students from low income families.

St. John’s probably does not meet the traditional definition of an "inner city/under-funded school". However, we have a new division of our school, the San Miguel School, that is truely an innercity/under-funded school and my experiences at the Smithsonian will be shared through classroom teaching at both locations. The San Miguel School, a new Catholic boys middle school headed by the de la Salle Christian Brothers, is located in the heart of Washington, DC. The school enrolls 60 students. All are Hispanic and poor. The families of these boys pay a small tuition each month to attend. Students at San Miguel School are frequently transported to St John’s for extra classes and to use the facilities. .

About my classroom: As I finish my first year teaching, I find that there is very little time to cover anything but the essentials in class. However, in the future I would like to have a chemistry application that can be referred to throughout the year as I cover these bare essentials. I have found that students enjoyed their previous year’s course in biology. In addition, television series such as the X-Files and CSI have made forensics a popular topic that many students are especially interested in.

What I'll bring back to my classroom after a summer at the Smithsonian: I plan to refer to my summer research at various points throughout a year-long course in chemistry. For instance, data that I collect would be used when we study the reproducibility of numbers and calculations involving significant digits. Discussions about elements and isotopes could involve why certain isotopes are found in greater proportions in some species but not others. Presently, I have no knowledge about how isotopes are separated or detected when bones are analyzed for such information. Furthermore, I know little about the wide variety of isotopes used for purposes of dating. I only just read recently that strontium is sometimes used in certain instances. In general, all of this information would certainly make topics such as radioactivity much more interesting and applicable to the students. And the pictures I would take and graphs I would make based on such data would be “worth a thousand words”.

Research Advisor:

Dr. Douglas Owsley
Phone: (202) 786-2553
E-mail: owsley.douglas@nmnh.si.edu

Curator, Physical Anthropology. B.A. (1973) University of Wyoming; M.A. (1975), Ph.D. (1978) University of Tennessee. Research specialties: skeletal biology; forensic anthropology; historic populations in North America; North American Plains Indians; Polynesia. Science Unit: Department of Anthropology.

Project Title: Stable Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analyses of Colonial Period Human Skeletons from Virginia and Maryland

The teacher working on this project will:

3) Complete a directed statistical analysis of specific components of the data.

4) Summarize the findings.

National Museum of Natural History
Research Assistantships for Minority High School Students
List of Nominees
2004

Eugene Butler | Jonathan Minix

The Research Assistantships for Minority High School Students (RAMHSS) initiative at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History is an opportunity for minority high school students to spend five weeks during the month of July participating in supervised research activities with a Smithsonian scientific mentor.

Students will partner with a Smithsonian scientist to investigate a natural history research topic as well as participate in a series of lectures, workshops, demonstrations, behind-the-scenes tours, and field trips.

The purpose of these supplemental awards is to encourage high school students from groups traditionally underrepresented in U.S. science (African American, Hispanic American, Native American, and Native Hawaiian) to participate in NSF-supported research projects.

The goals of the RAMHSS program at NMNH are to establish long-term mutually rewarding relationships between science faculty at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and high school students, targeting students from inner city schools and less well endowed school districts. The hope is to bring new insight and direct research experience to students who otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to expand their learning beyond the traditional classroom. We are especially seeking to host those students with an interest in a career in the natural history sciences (biology, geology, anthropology), but who have not had prior research experience, and to provide sustained follow-up interaction between the host mentor and student through their educational career. Funding is from the biological sciences with emphasis on students seeking a career within this scientific arena.

The RAMHSS at the Smithsonian initiative will be hosted at the Natural History Building located on the Mall in Washington, DC and conducted in partnership with our Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program, called the Research Training Program (RTP). Many events will be shared between programs and high school students will have regular interaction with the undergraduate students participating in the '04 RTP.

Mr. Butler is from Brookings, South Dakota. He is a Freshman at Brookings High School in Brookings, South Dakota where he is a member of the robotics team and active in debate.

Mr. Minix attends Archbishop John Carroll High School in Washington, DC. He plans to major in Marine Biology in College.

Project Description: Data will be entered into a File Maker Pro database of genitalia dissections of snout moths. The Smithsonian holds a vast resource of these dissections dating back many years but the data has not previously been easy to access. The database that will be added to a public web site thereby, for the first time, providing public access to this historical information from the Smithsonian's collections. In addition to data entry, Mr. Minix will be included in the Smithsonian community of scientists and will have the opportunity to learn insect collecting techniques, insect sorting, and collections management.

Placement of alternates in open positions will begin Monday, 22 March 2004. If a position becomes available, either through the acquisition of additional funding or a selected student declines to participate, an alternate, most likely, but not exclusively, from the alternate list will be selected to fill the position. Alternates offered a position in the '04 RTP have until 1 April 2004 to accept or decline.

Ms. Alvarez is from Vienna, Virginia. She is currently a Sophomore at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey where she is majoring in Ecology & Evolutionary Spanish and with a minor in Spanish Language & Culture. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

Ms. Austin is from Tuskegee, Alabama. She is currently a non-graduating Senior at Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University in Normal, Alabama where she is majoring in Plant and Soil Science. She plans to attend graduate school, obtaining a master's degree in Agricultural Development or International Relations leading to a Ph.D. in either fields and then pursue research in governmental and socio-economical effects of food production and trade in developing countries. She hopes to one day work for the United Nations.

Ms. Detrie is from Penfield, New York. She is currently a Junior at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania where she is majoring in Geology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in the geological sciences.

Mr. Gimmel is from Stillwater, Oklahoma. He is currently a Junior at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma where he is majoring in Zoology. He plans obtain a Ph.D. in Entomology, focusing on systematic coleopterology and specialize in Carabidae, Staphylinidae (esp. Aleocharinae), and Phalacridae of the world. He hopes to achieve a curatorial career or some other research position in a museum with an extensive entomological collection.

Mr. Kissoon is from Georgetown, Guyana. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at University of Guyana in Georgetown, Guyana where he is majoring in Biology. He plans to attend graduate school with focused study in conservation biology and especially botany.

Ms. Lewis is from New Carrollton, Maryland. She is currently a Sophomore at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio where she is majoring in Zoology with a minor in Botany. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in zoology, especially herpetology.

Ms. Lucas is from Valdosta, Georgia. She is currently a non-graduating Senior at Albany State University in Albany, Georgia where she is majoring in Biology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in vertebrate paleontology.

Mr. Maas is from Pablo, Montana. He is currently a non-graduating senior at University of Montata in Missoula, Montana where he is majoring in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Cultural and Ethnic Diversity and a Minor in Native American Studies. His goal is to achieve a Ph.D in anthropology with emphasis on cultural and ethnic diversity and then teach at the college level.

Ms. Pereira is from Santos, Sao Paulo, Brazil. She is currently a non-graduating Senior at Universidad Estadula de Campinas in Campinas, Brazil where she is majoring in Ecology and Zoology with a minor in Embriology and Physics. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in entomology.

Ms. Rivas is from Oceanside, California. She is currently a Sophomore at MiraCosta Community College, in Oceaside, California where she is majoring in Biological Anthropology with a minor in Cultural Anthropology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in anthropology.

Ms. Stachniak is from Greenville, South Carolina. She is currently a Sophomore at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana where she is majoring in Anthropology and Political Science, with a minor in French. She plans become a forensic anthropologist in a crime lab or museum setting, hopefully working in a museum's natural history department and assisting law enforcement in forensic cases. Eventually, she hopes to achieve a position with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's crime lab or the Central Identification Lab in Hawaii.

Mr. Van Dyke is originally from a small town in Illinois. He is currently a non-graduating Senior at City College of San Francisco in California where he is majoring in Environmental Earch Science with a minor in Geology. He says he would like to work for NASA or any other space exploration institution as a planetary geologist to explore new places and study other planets.

Ms. Venechuk is from Rockford, Michigan. She is currently a Sophomore at Scripps College in Claremont, California where she is majoring in Geologyy with a minor in Environmental Science. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in geology and hopes to one day work with NASA, analyzing geologic data from their missions.

Lauren Nelson - DECLINED

Ms. Nelson is from Fort Washington, Maryland. She is currently a Freshman at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut where she is majoring in Biology and Archaeology. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in archaeology/anthropology.

Ms. Nelson has been involved in anthropological studies since her freshman year in high school. At thirteen, she attended an archaeology camp at Penn State giving her her first experience with actual field work through excavation of a site known as Centre Furnace Mansion, which was a site of early iron manufacturing in the 1800’s. In the fall of her high school junior year, she became involved in archaeological excavations conducted by the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, initially, working as an assistant, helping with public programs involving historical archaeology and cataloging prehistoric artifacts from Jones Point, a Native American fishing site along the Potomac. During the summer of that year, she also participated in archeological excavations at Shutter’s Hill, a 19th century plantation laundry in Virginia. As a high school senior she did an independent project on community archaeology, working with Alexandria Archaeology museum.

Ms. Nelson received the National Institute of Health Summer Intramural Training Fellowship, State of Maryland Merit Scholastic Award, and the Bausch & Lomb Science Award. She is a National Achievement Scholar, Robert C. Bryd Scholar, National Merit Commended Scholar, and Maryland Distinguished Scholar.

Project Description: As part of two long term research programs: 1) early Cenozoic climatic and floral change (particularly changes around the Paleocene/Eocene boundary about 55 million years ago that are associated with an interval of rapid global warming), and 2) Cretaceous vegetation and flowering plant paleoecology, this research will focus on fossil plants, climate and paleoecology of the last 100 million years and will include collecting plant fossils, identifying them, calculating changes in diversity and composition of past vegetation, and using the shapes and sizes of fossil leaves to infer changes in temperature and precipitation in the past. The intern will spend approximately 3 weeks in the field in the western U.S. - Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota area. Field work will consist of collecting fossil plants and basic stratigraphic/sedimentological description. Students should complete the field work with a better understanding of paleontological and geological techniques, and what types of questions can be answered with paleontological field work. There will be interactions in the field with other parties conducting vertebrate paleontological studies.

In the lab the intern will undertake a guided independent research project that will include quantification of leaf morphology, description of vein architecture of dicot leaves, or assessment of the reliability of species identifications based on dispersed leaves.

Gabriela Salazar - WITHDREW
gls32@cornell.edu

Ms. Salazar is from Washington, DC. She is currently a Freshman at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York where she is majoring in Plant Science. She plans to attend graduate school with focused study in Plant Science.

Ms. Salazar has a "love for the natural sciences" and this has guided her to the Florida Everglades, West Virginia, Maine, the Colorado Rockies, and Belieze. She's particularly fascinated by plant-insect interactions (especially pollination strategies), by the study of medicinal plants, and Zoopharmacognosy.

She was accepted into the Cornell Presidential Research Scholar program and is a Cornell Presidential Research Scholar.

Title: Commelina imberbis and Commelina mascarenica: how can we tell them apart?

Project Description: The plant Commelina imberbis is one of the most confusing species of Commelina (Commelinaceae - spiderworts, dayflowers, etc.) in Africa. It is widespread in the non-forested areas mainly in eastern Africa, but records of it from South Africa and from India are incorrect. Until a year ago Commelina mascarenica was thought to occur only in Madagascar and nearby islands. We now know that it is also found on the African mainland where it very closely resembles C. imberbis. Specimens of the two species can be distinguished by mature seeds, but most specimens lack them. The purpose of this project is to look for characters that can be used to identify these two species, especially characters that can be observed in dried specimens. Using primarily herbarium specimens borrowed from the East African Herbarium, National Museums of Kenya, Nairobi, supplemented by other materials, such as living plants of both species growing in the Botany Research Greenhouse, a variety of techniques will be employed to search for additional features that can separate these species.

Last Name	First Name	University	Year in School	Citizenship
Alvarez	Suzanne	Princeton University	Sophomore	US
Austin	Charon	Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University	Non-graduating Senior	US
Detrie	Theresa	Juniata College	Junior	US
Gimmel	Matthew	Oklahoma State University	Junior
Kissoon	Ian	University of Guyana	Non-graduating Senior	Guyana
Lucas	Miranda	Albany State University	Non-graduating Senior	US
Maas	Lester	University of Montana - Missoula	Non-graduating Senior	US
Pereira	Marcela	Univ. Estadual de Campinas	Non-graduating Senior	Brazil
Rivas	Dena	MiraCosta Community College	Sophomore	US
Stachniak	Kayla	Tulane University	Sophomore	US
Van Dyke	Zachariah	City College of San Francisco	Non-graduating Senior	US
Venechuk	Elizabeth	Scripps College	Sophomore	US


	Highlights

Research Training Program PARTICIPANT LIST 2004

Research Training Program
PARTICIPANT LIST
2004