News
Concannon publishes in Molecular Ecology
First year OEB MS student Moira Concannon has a first-authored paper in the February issue of Molecular Ecology. The paper, Kin selection may contribute to lek evolution and trait introgression across an avian hybrid zone, features her undergraduate research. Concannon works in the Albertson lab. Congrats Moira!Spring 2012 TLDG
The theme for this spring's Thursday Lunch Discussion Group (TLDG) is Interesting papers by upcoming seminar speakers. On weeks without a seminar speaker, other topical papers will be chosen for discussion. Papers are posted on the TLDG website.
TLDG meets at 12:30 p.m. in 319 Morrill 2 and lunch is provided. All of the OEB community is invited to participate.
February Science Café: Antibiotics
Antibiotics: Resistance is Futile Monday, Feb. 27th, 5:30pm Esselon Café, 99 Russell Street (Route 9), Hadley
Antibiotics. ‘Tis the season for…sniffles. Join us at the next Science Café for a conversation on the war we wage on germs. We’ll have a fun hour of discussion, games, music, and a talk by UMass Professor and founder of the MA Academy of Sciences, Dr. Peg Riley. Dr. Riley will discuss her own work on our need for new drugs to combat germs, and how we find them. The event begins at 5:30pm, with light snacks provided and drinks available for purchase.
Kate Jenks Dissertation Defense
Kate Jenks, joint OEB and Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation Doctoral Candidate
10:00 am, Tuesday, January 24, 2012
312A Holsdworth
Dissertation Title: Distribution of Large Mammal Assemblages in Thailand with a Focus on Dhole (Cuon alpinus) Conservation
Darwin Fellow Search Underway
A search for a new Darwin Fellow is being conducted, with interviews planned for February. The Darwin Fellow Program is designed to bring promising young postdoctoral researchers to UMASS Amherst. The program, begun in 1995, supports a two-year Darwin Fellow position that combines teaching and research responsibilities, and also promotes the interdepartmental collaboration that characterizes OEB. Selection of the next Darwin Fellow begins with a national search, with interviews in February. Check here for more informationGet your OEB T-Shirt!
OEB T-shirts have arrived! Thanks to alums Sharlene Santana for the original inspiration and Steve Johnson for the beautiful artwork. The short-sleeved shirts are available in a range of sizes and variety of colors, and can be purchased for $15 in the OEB Office.
December Science Café: The Big Chill
The Big Chill: Surviving Winter
Monday, Dec. 12th, 5:30pm
Esselon Café
, 99 Russell Street (Route 9), Hadley MA
Brrr – winter is upon us! Come out to the Science Café to learn how organisms get through this cold weather. You can look forward to a fun hour of discussion, games, music, and a talk by local author and naturalist Charley Eiseman on insect strategies for winter survival. The event begins at 5:30pm, with light snacks provided and drinks available for purchase. All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience. Find out more information about Science Cafés here.
Congratulations to Moseley for Best Talk
The 1st Annual Life Sciences Graduate Research Symposium was a great success. Graduate students from 8 life sciences grad programs presented 20 talks and 24 posters. Congratulations to Dana Moseley for presenting the Best Talk of the day. And thanks to Rachel Bolus for spearheading the event and to the hard working committee who organized the symposium.Long's work featured in ScienceNOW: Avoid the blinking light
Skye Long's paper on bioluminescent aposematism in fireflies, published in the November issue of Animal Behaviour, drew commentary in ScienceNow. The work, co-authored by George Ramos (OEB MS student), Elizabeth Jakob (OEB faculty) and others, used faux LED fireflies and jumping spiders. While fireflies flash their lights to attract mates, this bioluminescence is also a magnet for predators. The study reveals that, if a meal tastes bad, predators learn to avoid the blinking.OEB Admissions 2012
The deadline for applying to OEB for a Fall 2012 start is December 1. Acceptance into OEB is dependent upon meeting academic standards, finding an OEB faculty member to sponsor your application and securing funding. Check our Admissions page for details on the application process. More information on Finding a Faculty Sponsor can be found here, including a list of OEB faculty who are seeking new students.Life Science Graduate Student Research Symposium: Friday, November 18th
Graduate students in the life sciences have organized an all day symposium to highlight their research, featuring presentations by students in Organismic & Evolutionary Biology, Neuroscience & Behavior, Molecular & Cellular Biology, Plant Biology, Environmental Conservation, Microbiology, Vet & Animal Science, and Plant Soil & Insect Sciences.
Visit the symposium website for details.
Check here for a schedule of talks.
Talks: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Campus Center 163Posters: 6:00 - 9:00 p.m., Campus Center 10th Floor (light refreshments served)
October's Science Café: "Out of the Dark: Demystifying Bats"
On Monday, October 3rd at 5:30 P.M. OEB grad students are hosting a Science Café at Esselon Café on Rt. 9 in Hadley, MA. "Out of the Dark: Demystifying Bats" will feature local bat expert and OEB faculty member Betsy Dumont discussing some of her own research on the world’s coolest flying mammals.
The Science Café series is designed to bring a scientific discussion outside the University walls to engage the public. Each event is focused on a single topic with a guest speaker, quiz bowl, and opportunities to ask questions to the featured scientist. All Science Café events are free, open and targeted to the general public.
Spread the word about this exciting event. For more details about this event as well as other OEB outreach activities, check here.
Kudos to OEB students
• Congratulations to David Hof, who received one of only 18 University Fellowships for Continuing Students awarded for 2011/12. • And also to Tom Eiting, who was awarded the 2010/2011 OEB TA Award for his outstanding work in the Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy labs.Welcome to Anne Leonard, OEB's newest Darwin Fellow
Dr. Anne Leonard, OEB's 16th Darwin Fellow, has arrived. She will be collaborating on research with both Lynn Adler and Beth Jakob during her fellowship. You can find out more about her interests here.OEB Ecology Core Course - Fall 2011
The syllabus for this fall's OEB Ecology Core Course has been posted on the course website.Ross's work in the news
Recently-departed Darwin Fellow Laura Ross, now a Royal Society Fellow at Oxford University, is in the the news. Her paper, co-authored with Andy Gardner, in the August 2011 issue of American Naturalist is discussed in a Discover's blog titled Hermaphrodite insects fertilise daughters with parasitic sperm and was featured in the New York Times.Schneider's talk at Evolution meeting generating press
Scott Schneider, a doctoral student in OEB and Entomology who works with Ben Normark, recently presented at the 2011 Evolution meeting in Norman, OK and his talk is generating press. His preliminary findings indicate that some African ants may raise insects for food. If his work pans out, this would be the first example of animals besides humans to domesticate other animals. (New Scientist, 6/30/11)Dan Lahr Dissertation Defense
Dan Lahr, OEB Doctoral Candidate
12:00 noon., Thursday, July 7, OEB Seminar Room (319 Morrill)
Dissertation Title: Exploring patterns of evolution in the Amoebozoa
Committee Chair: Laura Katz
Stankowich's work on bold coloration featured in National Geographic
Former Darwin Fellow Ted Stankowich's recent paper in Evolution is featured in National Geographic's Daily News. The article on bold coloration in carnivores, Why skunks have stripes, analyzed data on and pictures of nearly 200 carnivorous mammals—including skunks, badgers, and wolverines—shows that fierce fighters tend to be more boldly colored than more peaceable animals, which tend to use camouflage to stay safe.Lerman awarded Switzer Leadership Grant
Recent OEB grad Susannah Lerman was awarded a $40,000 Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation Leadership Grant to work with the US Forest Service's Northern Research Station to lead the Urban Wildlife and Biodiversity Initiative. The program is designed to help advance the professional careers of Switzer Fellows and to give non-profit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies greater access to individuals with superior technical, scientific or policy expertise.Rodger Gwiazdowski Dissertation Defense
Rodger Gwiazdowski, Joint OEB/Entomology Doctoral Candidate
10:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 8, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Discovery and evolution of cryptic species in North American pine-feeding Chionaspis scale insects (Hemiptera: Diaspididae)
Committee Chair: Ben Normark
Hof awarded NSF DDIG
David Hof, a doctoral candidate in Jeff Podos' lab, was awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for his proposal "Aggressive Signaling and Fitness Consequences in a New World Warbler." The $15,000 award was through NSF's Behavior Systems Cluster.Stengle awarded SSAR Grant
Anne Stengle was awarded a Grant-in-Herpetology in the Conservation Category from the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles for her proposal "Genetic Connectivity within a Metapopulation of Timber Rattlesnakes." Anne is a 1st-year doctoral student in the lab of Paul Sievert.Susannah Lerman Dissertation Defense
Susannah Lerman, OEB Doctoral Candidate
10:00 a.m., Tuesday, May 3, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: The conservation value of residential landscapes for native bird communities: The patterns, processes and management implications
Committee Chair: Paige Warren
Rosario awarded DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
Michael Rosario, OEB doctoral student in Sheila Patek's lab, was awarded a Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. In addition to being a great honor and providing funding for four years, the fellowship also provides a fantastic framework for Michael's budding skills and interests in computing.Sandra Gillespie Dissertation Defense
Sandra Gillespie, Joint OEB/Entomology Doctoral Candidate1:00 p.m., Tuesday, April 19, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Mutualisms in trophic cascades: the effects of parasites of bumblebees on pollination
Committee Chair: Lynn Adler
Lahr reveals that amoebas are sexier than anyone thought
Dan Lahr, a doctoral candidate in Laura Katz's lab, has found evidence of amoeboid sex lives, suggesting the act didn’t evolve, it has always been there. “It changes how we interpret the evolution of organisms,” Lahr told LiveScience. “If the last common ancestor of eukaryotes was sexual, then there is in practice no evolution of sex.” Lahr's paper, co-authored with recent OEB alum Laura Parfrey, Katz and others, was published in the March 23 issue of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.Santana and Dumont create GPS 'map' of bat teeth to explore evolutionary adaptations to diet
Recent alum Sharlene Santana, Betsy Dumont, and a colleague have used GPS technology to "map" the topography of bat teeth as if they were uncharted mountain ranges, in order to better understand how toothy ridges, peaks and valleys have evolved to allow different species to eat everything from hard-shelled insects to blood and nectar, providing a major step forward in understanding mammalian feeding systems. The study, part of Santana's dissertation, was published in the Feb. 16 online issue of the journal Functional Ecology. Images from the project, featured in BBC Earth News, can be seen here
Eiting awarded DDIG
Tom Eiting, OEB doctoral candidate in Betsy Dumont's lab, was awarded an NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant for his proposal "Functional and comparative morphology of the nasal cavity in phyllostomid bats." Eiting’s research incorporates comparative anatomy, histology, microCT scanning, and computational fluid dynamics to investigate the relationship between form and function in the nasal cavity of bats. This award was made through NSF's Systematic Biology and Biodiversity Inventories program.Gilman receives SICB Travel Fellowship
Casey Gilman, PhD student in Duncan Irschick's lab, has been awarded a SICB Graduate Student Travel Fellowship to help fund her research on "Asymmetrical resource partitioning in Anolis carolinensis and Anolis sagrei: A stable isotope study." The $2000 travel fellowship is one of two awarded by the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology.Darwin Fellow Search Underway
A search for a new Darwin Fellow is being conducted, with interviews planned for April. The Darwin Fellows Program is designed to bring promising young postdoctoral researchers to UMASS Amherst. The program, begun in 1995, supports a two-year Darwin Fellow position that combines teaching and research responsibilities, and also promotes the interdepartmental collaboration that characterizes OEB. Selection of Darwin Fellows begins with a national search. Check here for more informationRosario wins best student presentation award
Michael Rosario, OEB doctoral student in Sheila Patek's lab, received the best student oral presentation award from the Crustacean Society at January's annual meeting of the Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology in Salt Lake City, Utah. Congratulations Michael!OEB alum Sam Cushman to give seminar
Sam Cushman (OEB PhD '03) returns to give a seminar titled New developments in landscape genetics at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, January 21 in Morrill 2 222. Cushman is currently a Research Landscape Ecologist with the Rocky Mountain Research Station.Lord's work featured on National Geographic Chanel
Kathryn Lord, recent OEB alumnus, is featured in How Man Tamed the Wild on the National Geographic Channel's Explorer series. Lord's dissertation looked the development of behavioral differences between dogs and wolves.Carolyn Rounds Thesis Defense
Carolyn Rounds, MS Student
1:00 p.m., Wednesday, December 1, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: A New Species of Moropus (Mammalia, Perissodactyla, Chalicotheriodea) in the Batesland Formation, Great Plains Area of North America
Committee Chair: Margery Coombs
Del Toro awarded National Geographic Young Explorers Grant
Israel Del Toro, an OEB doctoral student, has received a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant to document the diversity patterns of ants in the forests of the Northeastern United States.Noah Charney and Charley Eiseman win book award
OEB PhD Candidate Noah Charney and Charley Eiseman (Wildlife and Fisheries Conservation, 2000) won the National Outdoor Book Award for best nature guidebook of 2010. Their 592-page work, Tracks & Sign of Insects and Other Invertebrates: A Guide to North American Species , includes nearly 1,000 color photos and identifies thousands of marvelously mysterious signs created by beetles, spiders, flies, ants, slugs, and many other spineless animals. More information about the authors can be found at their websiteUpcoming OEB Dissertation Defenses: Taft, Sun and Charney
Ben Taft, PhD Candidate
11:00 a.m., Tuesday, November 30, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: The role of dawn song in tree swallows and its place in the diversity of oscine song learning
Committee Chair: Jeff Podos
Zhiyi Sun, PhD Candidate
9 a.m., Wednesday, December 8, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Genome reduction in a marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus
Committee Chair: Jeff Blanchard
Noah Charney, PhD Candidate
10:00 a.m., Tuesday, December 14, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Movin' & Groovin' Salamanders: Conservation Implications of Large Scales and Quirky Sex
Committee Chair: Paige Warren
The seminar portion of each defense is open to the public
Laura Parfrey's work makes the cover of Systematic Biology
OEB PhD candidate, Laura Parfrey is first author on a paper from Laura Katz's lab. The paper, Broadly Sampled Multigene Analyses Yield a Well-Resolved Eukaryotic Tree of Life , is featured on the October 2010 cover of Systematic Biology.James Truman to give Sinauer Lecture
This fall's Sinauer Lecture will be given by James Truman, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, on Friday, October 15, 2010.
Location: Electrical Engineering Lab 2 Lecture hall (Room 119)
Title: Neuronal Lineages in the CNS of Drosophila: Units of Development, Behavior, and Evolution
Hosts: Eric Bittman & Larry Schwartz
OEB Evolution Course Website
The course website for this fall's Evolution Core Course has preparation pages for each week. Check here for the most up-to-date information.Byers and Belinsky's work featured in The American Naturalist
OEB faculty Bruce Byers, former OEB grad student Kara Belinsky and Alex Bentley of Durham University in England have found that chestnut-sided warblers possess two distinct cultural traditions in song variants that evolve independently - one, used for territorial disputes that changes frequently, and another, used for romance that relies on a small unchanging sampling of classics. The findings, published in The American Scientist, suggest songbird culture is more complex than previously thought.Annie Paradis' Dissertation Defense
10:00 a.m., Friday, August 27, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Studies of the population dynamics of the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae)
Committee Chair: Joseph Elkinton
Annie is a joint OEB/Entomology PhD candidate
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Laura Parfrey's Dissertation Defense
10:00 a.m., Thursday, August 26, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Diversity of Eukaryotes and their Genomes
Committee Chair: Laura Katz
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Santana and Dumont's work featured on Functional Ecology's cover
The work of OEB PhD candidate Sharlene Santana and her advisor, Betsy Dumont, is featured on the latest cover of Functional Ecology. Their paper, Mechanics of bite force production and its relationship to diet in bats, is in the August 2010 issue.Jason Coombs' Dissertation Defense
9:00 a.m., Friday, August 13, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Reproduction in the wild: The effect of individual life history strategies on population dynamics and persistence
Committee Chair: Ben Letcher
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Tulchinsky wins OEB Teaching Award
An outstanding and unusually large group of nominees were considered by the Graduate Operations Committee for this year's OEB TA Award. The committee was very impressed by the quality of the nominees and by the strong evidence of how much they value teaching. This year's award goes to Sasha Tulchinsky, whose application packet was extraordinary even by these high standards. Congratulations, Sasha!Sharlene Santana's Dissertation Defense
2:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 6, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: The evolution of cranial morphology, feeding performance and behavior in Neotropical leaf-nosed bats (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)
Committee Chair: Elizabeth Dumont
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Additional Darwin Fellow Candidates
Three additional Darwin Fellow candidates have been invited for interviews in June. All seminars are at noon in the OEB Seminar Room.
Friday, June 11
ANNA FIEDLER, PhD Candidate, Michigan State University
Seminar: Improving conservation by using multiple metrics and collaboration in habitat restoration
Host: Paige Warren
Thursday, June 17
NICHOLAS TIPPERY, PhD Candidate, University of Connecticut
Seminar: Learning to float: Evolution of inflorescence architecture in the aquatic plant genus Nymphoides (Menyanthaceae)
Host: Jill Miller
Friday, June 18
LAURA ROSS, PhD Candidate, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Seminar: Genomic conflict in scale insects:
The causes and consequences of unusual genetic systems
Host: Ben Normark
Suellen Almeida's Thesis Defense
2:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 9, OEB Seminar Room
Thesis Title: The effects of environmental temperature on locomotor performance and growth patterns in spotted salamanders, Ambystoma maculatum
Committee Chair: Duncan Irschick
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Dan Lahr Receives University Fellowship
Dan Lahr, a PhD candidate in Laura Katz's lab, was one of 15 UMass graduate students awarded a University Fellowship for Returning Students. Dan, who studies genome evolution in ciliates and lobose amoebae, has an impressive publication record, with five first-authored papers.Switzer Fellowships Awarded to Charney and Lerman
Noah Charney and Susannah Lerman, both doctoral candidates working with Paige Warren, have been awarded Switzer Fellowships. The very competitive Switzer Environmental Fellowship Program supports highly talented graduate students in New England and California whose studies are directed toward improving environmental quality and who demonstrate the potential for leadership in their field. Each year, through an extensive application and interview process, twenty Environmental Fellowships are awarded, ten in California and ten in New England, out of an initial pool of well over 300 applicants. Congratulations Noah and Susannah!OEB Students Awarded NHC Summer Scholarships
Four OEB students received summer scholarships from UMass' Natural History Collections. Congratulations to Noah Charney, Israel Del Toro, Chi-Yun Kuo, and Jin Wu
OEB Students Receive NSF Awards
Congratulations to Joe Chadwick on his NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Joe, a student in Steve McCormick's lab at the USGS Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, looks at the impact of acute and chronic thermal increases on the stress and growth responses in brook trout at the individual and population levels
Lexi Brown and Skye Long both received Honorable Mention for their NSF GRF proposals.
More congratulations are in order for Justin Henningson and Dana Moseley, who were both awarded DDIGs.
Justin, who works with Duncan Irschick, studies Anolis lizards in Aiken, South Carolina. His dissertation is titled "How do a signal and whole-organism performance interact to determine reproductive success?"
Dana, who works with Jeff Podos works on swamp sparrows in the Quabbin. Her dissertation is titled "Development and learning of mating signals and preferences."
Cultural evolution: High fidelity
OEB alumnus Eben Goodale and OEB faculty member Jeff Podos have coauthored a paper that just appeared in Biology Letters, on song evolution. The paper has generated some buzz, with articles in the New York Times and Nature.
Darwin Fellow Candidates
Three Darwin Fellow candidates have been invited for interviews during the first week of May. All seminars are at 12 noon in the OEB Seminar Room.
Monday, May 3
ROBERT JAVONILLO Postdoctoral Fellow, George Washington University
Seminar: Living on the cusp(s): Advances, opportunities, and challenges in studying the evolution of characid fishes
Host: Ethan Clotfelter and Cristina Cox Fernandes
Thursday, May 6
RACHEL SPIGLER Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Seminar: Plant reproductive systems: Insight from ecological, genetic, and evolutionary perspectives
Host: Jill Miller
Friday, May 7
TARA DUFFY PhD Candidate, Stony Brook University
Seminar: Mechanisms of growth and sex determination in the Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia, and the spatial scale of local adaptation
Host: Steve McCormick
Lisabeth Willey's Dissertation Defense
9:00 a.m., Friday, April 2, OEB Seminar RoomDissertation Title: Spatial ecology of eastern box turtles (Terrapene c. Carolina) in Central Massachusetts
Committee Chair: Paul Sievert
Liz is a joint WFCON/OEB student
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Kathryn Lord's Dissertation Defense
10:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 24, OEB Seminar RoomDissertation Title: A heterochronic explanation for the behaviorally polymorphic genus Canis: a study of the development of behavioral differences in dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus lupus)
Committee Chairs: Ray Coppinger and Melinda Novak
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Special OEB Seminar: Alex Bentley
Bruce Byers is hosting Dr. Alex Bentley, Department of Anthropology, Durham University for a special OEB seminar titled Social influence and drift in collective behavior on Tuesday, March 2 at 4:00 in the OEB seminar room. Refreshments precede the seminar.Darwin Fellow Search
The Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology announces a two-year POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP/LECTURESHIP. OEB draws together more than 80 faculty from the Five Colleges (University of Massachusetts Amherst and Smith, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Amherst Colleges), offering unique training and research opportunities in the fields of ecology, organismic and evolutionary biology. Our research/lecture position provides recent PhD's with an opportunity for independent research with an OEB faculty sponsor as well as experience developing and teaching a one-semester undergraduate biology course. Proven teaching skills are required. Position subject to availability of funds. 1st year salary: $35,000, 2nd year salary: $37,000. Application review begins on April 1. Additional information is available HERE.
Rosario wins two awards at SICB conference
Michael Rosario, a new NEAGEP intern in Sheila Patek's lab, won not one but TWO awards for his poster presentation at the recent Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology conference in Seattle this year. Both the Crustacean Society judges and the Division of Comparative Biomechanics judges evaluated his poster and interviewed Michael independently and decided that he deserved the Best Student Poster Award from both their divisions.Celebrating 150 years of evolution
In honor of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, OEB is planning a day long celebration on Friday, December 11. The capstone event is a presentation by noted science writer Carl Zimmer.
Zimmer's talk, Darwin Gets Swine Flu: Celebrating the Origin of Species in an Age of Pandemics, will take place at 5:00 p.m. on December 11 in the Integrated Sciences Building Auditorium.
Following his talk, OEB is hosting a reception and book signing in the ISB Lobby.
Zimmer is well known for his popular science writing, particularly his work on evolution. He has published seven books, including Evolution: Triumph of an Idea and At the Water's Edge. His latest book, The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution, has been praised by E.O. Wilson as the best written and best illustrated introduction to evolution in the last decade.
In addition to frequent contributions to the New York Times, National Geographic, Discover, Science and Popular Science, Zimmer maintains an award-winning blog, The Loom.
A full day of activities will take place in the Campus Center Concourse, including raffles, games and free food. At 4:00 p.m., Zimmer, and maybe even Darwin himself, will draw the raffle prizes of autographed copies of The Tangled Bank and On the Origin of Species!
Weird Connections: How Sticky Is Your Gecko?
Duncan Irschick's work on gecko adhesion is featured in a Discovery Channel DVD. Click here to see a short, entertaining preview.Santana and Dumont's work featured on Evolutionary Biology's cover
The work of OEB PhD candidate Sharlene Santana and her advisor, Betsy Dumont, is featured on the latest cover of the Journal of Evolutionary Biology. Their paper, Connecting behaviour and performance: the evolution of biting behaviour and bite performance in bats is in the November 2009 issue.Admissions and Finding a Faculty Sponsor
The deadline for applying to OEB for Fall 2010 is December 1. Acceptance into OEB is dependent upon meeting academic standards, finding faculty sponsorship and securing funding. Check our Admissions page for details on the application process. OEB faculty who have expressed an interest in taking a new student for the next academic year are listed here. Other faculty may be interested if just the right student comes along.Ted Stankowich's work featured in Nature
The reason some female hoofed animals have horns while others do not has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, even the great Charles Darwin. But now a survey of 117 bovid species led by Ted Stankowich, former Darwin Fellow and lecturer at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, suggests an answer: Females that can’t readily hide in protective cover and those who must defend a feeding territory are more likely to have horns than those who live in protective habitat or don’t defend a territory. The work, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, was highlighted in the 24 September 2009 issue of Nature.OEB Ecology Core Course
The first meeting of OEB Ecology Core Course (Org&EvBi 790E) is Tuesday, September 8 at 1:00 p.m. in the OEB Seminar Room (319 Morrill). Details are posted on the course website. PDFs of the readings for the first class can be found their under Readings in the Navigation Tree in the right column.David McMillan's Dissertation Defense
9:00 a.m., Friday, September 18, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Functional consequences of acute temperature stress in the western fence lizard, Sceloporus occidentalis
Committee Chair: Duncan Irschick
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Dumont discovers that ugly bats are built to bite
Betsy Dumont's work was recently featured in both BBC News and Nature News. A team led by Dumont has discovered that the oddly-shaped skulls of wrinkle-faced bat (Centurio senex) include jaws that are more powerful than not just other fruit bats but also much larger predatory bats.Huber Recognized as Outstanding New Faculty
At the end of her first year as Assistant Professor at Randolph-Macon College, Sarah Huber (PhD '07) was selected by students as their Outstanding New Faculty Member. Congratulations Sarah!
OEB Student Outreach in Springfield Schools
When OEB Grad Students decided that science outreach was important, Laura Parfrey and Sharlene Santana spearheaded the development of a new section within the OEB website to connect local school teachers with OEB Grad Student experts. Throughout the spring, Dan Lahr, Sharlene Santana, Laura Parfrey, Dana Moseley, Kim Ogden, Rachel Bolus and David Hof traveled to Springfield classrooms to share their interests with elementary school students. The seven recently received a big hand-made card from the students and their teachers:
Dear Scientists, Thank you for showing us bats, birds, germs and bacteria. Please come back to show us more science!
Find out more about their efforts: Student Outreach
Sinauer Associates Lecture: Robert M. Sapolsky
4:00 p.m., April 10, 2009
135 Integrated Sciences Building (Auditorium)
Gene Therapy for Psychiatric Disorders:
Do Parasites Know More Neurobiology Than We Do?
Dr. Sapolsky of Stanford University has won numerous awards, ranging from the MacArthur Award to the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. He is an eclectic, accessible and thought-provoking speaker whose approaches to the neurobiology of behavior range from biochemical to evolutionary.
Natasha Taft's Dissertation Defense
2:30 p.m., Thursday, April 23, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Functional and comparative morphology of the pectoral fins among benthic "scorpaeniform" fishes
Committee Chair: Cristina Cox Fernandes
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Micah Dunthorn's Dissertation Defense
2:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 1, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Ciliate biodiversity and phylogenetic reconstruction assessed by multiple molecular markers
Committee Chair: Laura Katz
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
OEB Celebrates Darwin's 200th Birthday
OEB will mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, February 12, 1809, with two events.
6:00 p.m., Thursday, February 12
101 Campus Center
Daniel Fairbanks, author of the 2007 book, Relics of Eden: The Powerful Evidence of Evolution in Human DNA, will sculpt a likeness of Darwin while recalling formative events in Darwin's life and discussing his importance to modern science.
4:00 p.m., Friday, February 13
319 Morrill (OEB seminar Room)
Norm Johnson, will speak about Darwin in the age of the genome.
A birthday celebration, complete with cake, will follow the seminar.
Jeremy Andersen Masters' Defense
10:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 11, OEB Seminar Room
Thesis Title: A phylogenetic analysis of armored scale insects, based upon nuclear, mitochondrial, and endosymbiont gene sequences
Committee Chair: Ben Normark
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
Natasha Taft wins D. Dwight Davis Award
OEB doctoral candidate Natasha Taft won the D. Dwight Davis Award for Best Student Paper in the Division of Vertebrate Morphology at January's SICB meetings in Boston, for her work on A New Twist on Bending: Properties of the Pectoral Fin Rays of the Benthic Longhorn Sculpin. Congratulations on a job well done!
Mike Jones Dissertation Defense
9:00 a.m., Friday, January 30, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Spatial ecology, population structure, and conservation of the wood turtle, Glyptemys insculpta, in Central New England
Committee Chair: Paul Sievert
The seminar portion of the defense is open to the public
OEB Faculty Seeking New Grad Students
To help OEB applicants seeking a faculty sponsor for their applications, the faculty listed below are interested in taking on a student in Fall 2009. Keep in mind that a good match of research interests between applicants and faculty is a key part of our admissions process.Mary Doherty Dissertation Defense
1:00 p.m., Thursday, August 21, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Distribution and diversity of planktonic ciliates in the Choreotrichia and Oligotrichia: Patterns and driving forces
Committee Chair: Laura Katz
Kara Belinsky Dissertation Defense
1:00 p.m., Friday, July 18, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Imperfectly redundant signals: color, song, and mate choice in Chestnut-sided warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica)
Committee Co-chairs: Bruce Byers and Jeff Podos
Eric Dewar Dissertation Defense
9:30 a.m., Friday, July 18, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Dietary ecology and community paleoecology of Early Tertiary mammals
Committee Chair: Margery Coombs
New Darwin Fellow Announced
Dr. Jaime Tanner will begin her position as OEB's 14th Darwin Fellow in mid-August. Tanner received her PhD from Michigan State University in 2007 where her dissertation research focused on ontogenetic changes in skull morphology and feeding behavior in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). She spent the past year as visiting faculty at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Tanner has arrived on campus and will be working with Dr. Betsy Dumont this summer until her fellowship begins.Philip Bergmann Dissertation Defense
1:00 p.m., Friday, June 20, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: A phylogenetic and functional approach to the study of the evolution of body shape in lizards (Squamata)
Christine Buckley Dissertation Defense
1:00 p.m., Thursday, April 10, OEB Seminar Room
Dissertation Title: Phenotypic plasticity, functional morphology and ecomorphology of two terrestrial ectotherms
Darwin Fellow Search
Search currently underway for positions beginning in the fall of 2008. Application information available.
Recent OEB Grads Land Positions
- Christine Buckley (PhD 2008) Communications Officer, The Ecological Society of America
- Sarah Huber (PhD 2007) Assistant Professor of Biology, Randolph-Macon College
- Leann Kanda (PhD 2005) Assistant Professor of Biology, Ithaca College
- Chad Hoeler (PhD 2005) Assistant Professor of Biology, Arcadia University
- Andrea Ward (PhD 2005) Assistant Professor of Biology, Adelphi University
- Eric Hilton (PhD 2002) Assistant Professor at Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences and College of William and Mary
Size Matters
Sarah Huber's (PhD 2007) recent paper on variation in beak size of Darwin's finches, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, was cited in Nature's Research Highlights
319 Morrill S. 
