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| Highlights from 2004 |
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| Highlights from 2004 |
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 Information
about the Research Training Program:
go directly to the current RTP on-line application forms
Smithsonian Office of Fellowships - fellowships POST GRADUATES
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Research
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Smithsonian
Institution
National Museum of Natural History Research
Training Program 29 May 2004 - 7 August 2004 A total of 19 undergraduate students are anticipated to join the RTP Class of '04. Including 2 students from the Notre Dame partnership program. The RAMHSS and RET programs have been canceled. Schedule
of Events |
Poster |
Program
Summary Created:
22 August 2003 |
Last
Updated: 13 June 04
* * * ARRIVAL * * * * Friday, 28 May 2004 * 9:00 a.m. : Apartment inspection conducted by Staff Check Points:
* Saturday, 29 May 2004 *
Location:
The
Reserve at Eisenhower Phone:
(703) 751-4100 For questions contact: Debbie Lynch or available property manager. Apartments
come fully furnished:
9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. : Apartment check-in continues. * * * Check-in Notes * * *
Week
1 |
Week 2 |
Week 3 |
Week 4 |
Week 5 |
Week 6 |
Week 7 *
* * WEEK 1 * * * * Monday, 31 May 2004 (Memorial Day Holiday) * 8:45 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. : PROGRAM ORIENTATION - host: Mary Sangrey 8:45 a.m. : Arrival.
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. : Program Orientation / Completion of Registration Forms.
Topic:
Everything you ever wanted to know about the
Research Training Program - here's the chance to ask.
Founded in 1980, the Research Training Program (RTP) is a museum-based, undergraduate course in collections-based research and natural history studies including the biological, geological, and anthropological sciences. Developing confidence and competence in the research process is the cornerstone of the program. The course includes a curriculum of required activities and events plus a research topic conducted under the guidance of a professional scientist.
* Tuesday, 1 June 2004 * 8:30 - 9:15 a.m. : GROUP PHOTOGRAPH - host: Mary Sangrey
Topic: RTP Opening Reception. An informal gathering of residents from the NMNH community plus members from funding organizations and other special guests. Each research advisor will introduce their student to the group and students given the opportunity to offer a brief commentary. Light refreshments available. 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. : POSTER PHOTOGRAPH - host: Mary Sangrey
A
photo of the RTP Class of '04 along with sponsoring staff will be the
feature of our "Celebrating 25 Years" 2005 RTP recruitment poster
being designed by Tom Thill.
3:00 - 5:00 p.m. : PROGRAM ADMINISTRATION Students: Review and copy forms, test the e-mail system, and begin preparing your project proposal. * Wednesday, 2 June 2004 * 9:00 a.m. - noon : RESEARCH Noon - 1:00 p.m.: LUNCH BREAK -
- - Anthropology - - - 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. : LECTURE - host: Lynn Copes
Topic: Searching for Human Origins in the Field Join Rick Potts in an exploration of life at his field site, Olorgesailie, in southwestern Kenya. With slides and stories, Dr. Potts will explain his research into paleoenvironments and hominin evolution through the Human Origins Program, which he started in 1985. The Human Origins Program at the Smithsonian is dedicated to understanding the biological and cultural foundations of human life. The two key objectives follow the fundamental goals of the Smithsonian Institution: to advance scientific knowledge through continuing, cutting-edge research, and to create the opportunity for public access to this knowledge. His talk will include insights from last field season, when the first hominin fossils were discovered at the sight. The frontal and left temporal bone represent the smallest adult Homo erectus yet found, and fills an important temporal gap in the African fossil record. Working at the Olorgesailie (Kenya) field site during the summer of 2003, Rick discovered a partial cranium of the first well-dated fossil that stands in a 400,000-year gap in the human fossil record of East Africa. The gap is between 1 million and 600,000 years old, an important time period prior to the origin of our species, Homo sapiens (in Africa around 200,000 years ago). The age of the fossil is about 900,000 years old (technically between 970,000 and 900,000 years old) and represents the first human fossil ever found at the Olorgesailie site. The fossil is directly associated with the rich handaxe sites at Olorgesailie and establishes a fossil human along side the Acheulean technology of East Africa (one of the longest stone technologies in human prehistory). The paper on the discovery, co-authored with Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Smithsonian Institution; Alan Deino, Berkeley Geochronology Center; Peter Ditchfield, University of Oxford; and Jennifer Clark, Smithsonian Institution, will be published in the July 2 issue of Science. “The discovery
of a human fossil at Olorgesailie helps to unlock the mystery of an important
period in human development,” said Potts.
Location:
Academic Resources Center - ARC Tour Guide: Laurie Burgess Topic: The story of the Patu and other treasures in Anthropology Although the majority of anthropological artifacts at the Smithsonian are kept at the Museum Support Center (MSC), several artifacts currently being studied are kept onsite. Laurie will display a few of these, including a Patu that sailed with Captain Cook, some cooking pots from Mali, and an obsidian tool flaked by Alan Alda (it's up to you to discover what's real and what's not).
* Thursday, 3 June 2004 * 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. : RESEARCH
* Friday, 4 June 2004 * -
- - Botany - - - 9:00 - 10:00 a.m. : LECTURE - host: Emily Moran
Topic: The Sun Never Sets on the Asteraceae: Using supertrees to understand the diversity and evolution of the daisy family The daisy family, Asteraceae, makes up nearly one-tenth of all flowering plants, and its members are found everywhere but Antarctica. It includes 1,700 genera and between 25,000 to 35,000 species. The classification of this huge family has remained largely the same since Bentham (1873). But now molecular data has given us the opportunity to examine its history in new ways. Supertrees, produced by combining partially overlapping trees or datasets, can provide an estimate of phylogenetic relationships between species and genera in the Asteraceae. 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. : COLLECTION TOUR - host: Xavier Haro Meeting
Location: Academic Resources Center
- ARC Tour Guide: Rusty Russell (phone: 202-357-4362) Topic: The US National Herbarium
Explore the US National Herbarium. See the "Botany Best" collection and learn why museum plant collections are important. Dead, usually various shades of brown, pressed and dried plants, generally mounted on 11" x 17" sheets of paper may not have the initial appeal of furry mammals or brightly colored bird skins but bring your hand lens or take advantage of the dissecting microscopes available - herbarium collections hold many wondrous characters, it just takes a discerning eye to see the intricate beauty, patterns, and uniqueness. The United States National Herbarium (US) was founded in 1848, when the first collections were accessioned from the United States Exploring Expedition (50,000 specimens of 10,000 species). Current holdings total over 4.7 million specimens from worldwide locations including 90,000 type specimens, making this collection among the ten largest in the world representing about 8% of the plant collection resources of the United States. An average of 40,000 specimens are added to the collection each year. The Department maintains an extremely active loan and exchange program. About 50,000 specimens are lent annually to other institutions around the world and an additional 20,000 specimens are exchanged. Approximately 200 researchers visit the herbarium each year.
a) Research b) Optional Botany Demonstrations & Tours Social | Histology | Pressing & Mounting | Illustration
Topic:
Meet
the NHB Botany Community Dessert will be available. Members from the NMNH Botany community will gather to discuss their research interests.
Topic: Plant Histology The workshop begins with a quick 10 minute tour around the lab and demonstration of the freezing microtome and the services provided by the histology lab. Those interested in learning more are welcome to stay for some hands-on opportunities to try the techniques.
1:30
- 1:40 p.m. 1:40
- 1:45 p.m. 1:45
- 2:15 p.m. The Plant Anatomy Laboratory highlights the wonderful world of Plant Microtechnique. Learn about why anatomy is useful in taxonomic research and especially about the methods that reveal anatomical structure and cellular organization in plants. This is an opportunity to observe and discuss techniques while they are being demonstrated. The session features microtomy, whole mount clearing, critical point drying, light microscopy and photomicrography. On
display are examples from the wood collection and the botanical anatomical
reference slide collection. Plant histology techniques including whole
mount clearings, paraffin embedding and sectioning, freezing microtome
sectioning, critical point drying, and photo micrography will be demonstrated.
Topic: Plant Processing, mounting & preserving Watch
as specimens are prepared for incorporation in to the herbarium. Plant
pressing and mounting will be demonstrated. On display are examples of
specimens showing different mounting and preservation techniques.
Topic: Botanical Scientific Illustration This is a hands-on opportunity to try pen and ink line drawing and to experiment with the tools used by professional scientific illustrators. Illustration tools, including camera lucida use, will be demonstrated and interested participants will be given the opportunity to experiment with the various illustration equipment and techniques. The workshop will also include an opportunity to experiment with drawing on the computer using the Wacom tablet. * Saturday, 5 June 2004 * Option: 8:45 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. : FIELD TRIP - host: Anthony Alvarez
* * * Advisors and their families welcome * * * Itinerary:
About the Scientists Cliffs Site: Located on the western side of the Chesapeake Bay, the "Calvert Cliffs" were formed over 15 million years ago when all of Southern Maryland was covered by a warm, shallow sea. The cliffs dominate the shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay extending for more than thirty miles; from Fairhaven (Anne Arundel County, MD) to near Drum Point (Calvert County, MD).
They are considered the best marine Miocene (Miocene Epoch, 25 million to 6.5 million years ago) deposit in the world. Three formations are recognized in the cliffs; from oldest to youngest, the Calvert, Choptank, and St. Marys Formations. These have been further subdivided into Members and Beds. Because of the gentle dip (about 11 feet per mile) of the deposits to the southeast, different Beds are exposed at different localities, containing different sediment types and fossils.
The cliffs and beaches have been collected and studied from Colonial
times to the present. Over 600 species of fossils have been identified from these cliffs including the "Maryland State Fossil" Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae Wilson. The most visible fossils are mollusk shells, with some beds so densely packed that they are described as "shell beds." The most popular fossils are the sharks' teeth. Other fossils include microscopic plants and animals, macroscopic plants, corals, barnacles, crabs, sand dollars, sea urchins, bony fish, rays, crocodiles, turtles, birds, terrestrial mammals, and marine mammals. Many fossils have Calvert Cliffs as their type locality and some have been found nowhere else.
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10:00
a.m. - 6:00 p.m. : Apartment check-in
Location:
Director's Office
Speaker:
Rick Potts. Curator, Physical Anthropology; Director, 
On
display are examples of illustrations showing different methods of botanical
illustration and the steps generally followed to progress from concept
to published illustration.
Guides:
Dave Bohaska (phone: 202-357-2052) and Bob Purdy (phone:
202-357-1525).
The
Calvert Cliffs region is also home to two Federally threatened species
of tiger beetle; Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis (Northeastern Beach
Tiger Beetle) and Cicindela puritana (
