Research Seminars

The Academy host a series of scientific seminars throughout the year sponsored by the Academy’s chapter of Sigma Xi. These technical seminars are intended for scientists and college-level students. Guests from other research and higher education institutions and organizations are encouraged to attend.

Those interested in presenting their research at the Academy should contact Makiri Sei at seminars@ansp.org .

These seminars are typically held during the Fall, Winter, and Spring. All seminars are held at 12 noon in the Academy’s Ewell Sale Stewart Library & Archives unless otherwise noted.

Winter/Spring 2013

Friday, January 11
Kara Belinsky, Arcadia University
"A little bird told me: using birdsong to understand evolution, ecology and behavior"
Friday, January 18
Tatyana Livshultz, Assistant Curator of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Close encounters of the floral kind: pollination of Apocynaceae (milkweed family) in the tropics”
Friday, January 25
Alfred E. Schuyler, Curator Emeritus of Botany, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Colonial and Early American Botany”
Friday, February 8
Wendy Clement, The College of New Jersey
"From Biogeography to Barcoding: insights from evolutionary studies of Viburnum (Adoxaceae)"
Friday, February 15
Melanie Mills, Patrick Center for Environmental Research
“Occurrence of freshwater mussels (unionidae) in surveyed streams of southeastern Pennsylvania and the potential use of broodstock for restoration aquaculture.”
March 15
Megan Paustian, Drexel University
"Land slugs of the world: their ecology and taxonomy, with a focus on our native Pallifera"
March 21
James Lendemer, Institute of Systematic Botany, The New York Botanical Garden
Lichen biodiversity of the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain: discovery and conservation of a critically threatened biota
April 5
Peter Petraitis, University of Pennsylvania
"Dramatic Shifts in Shell Morphology of Dogwhelks (Nucella lapillus) in Maine over the Last Century"
April 19
Francisco Borrero, Academy of Natural Sciences
Working with poorly known (malaco)faunas: challenges and opportunities
April 26
Mimi Sheller, Drexel University
“Aluminum Wars”
May 3
Fernando Vega, USDA
“Coffee and the Coffee Berry Borer: an Illustrated History”
July 19
Camilla Medeiros, Cento de Pesquisas Rene Rachou, Fiocruz Minas Gerais 
TBA
 

Recent Seminars

 

Fall 2012

Friday, September 7
David Sunderlin, Lafayette College
"Eocene Forests of Southern Alaska: Insights from a Rich Paleobotanical Record"
Friday, October 5
Ryan Kerney, Gettysburg College
Friday, October 12
ANSP Bicentennial Symposium at Drexel University
Friday, October 26
Francesca Leasi, Academy of Natural Sciences
"Cryptic diversity and distribution of rotifers at different ecological and spatial scales: are these critters everywhere?"
Friday, November 2
Mimi Sheller, Drexel University
"Aluminum Wars"
Friday, November 16
Sue Kilham, Drexel University
"Impacts of amphibian extirpation on ecosystem processes in neotropical streams in Panama" 
Friday, November 30
Robert Loeb, Penn State DuBois
"Old Growth Urban Forest"
Winter/Spring 2012
Friday, February 10
Tracy Quirk, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Assessing Regional Wetland Function and Local Impacts in a Time of Rising Sea Level”
Friday, February 24
Ching-Wen (Karen) Tan, National Chung Hsing University, Taiwan (ANSP McHenry Fellow)
“The floral visitors of Parsonsia alboflavescens (Apocynaceae) in Taiwan: will the pollinator raise a wing?”
Friday, March 9
Dane Ward and Ron Smith, Laboratory of Pinelands Research, Drexel University
“Ecological Studies of the Northern Pine Snake”
Friday, March 16
Metin Sitti, Carnegie Mellon University
“Biologically Inspired Miniature Mobile Robots”
This seminar is sponsored by the Drexel College of Engineering
Friday, March 30
Scott Fay, Temple University
“Assessing the function of eukaryotic microbes in aquatic ecosystems using next-gen sequencing”
Friday, April 6
Todd Jackman, Villanova University
“Searching for new phylogenetically useful loci in squamates and gene concordance as a null hypothesis - examples from Southern African skinks and New Caledonian geckos”
Friday, April 13
M. Rockwell Parker, Monell Chemical Senses Center
“Eau des Serpentes: pheromonal signaling in snakes”
Friday, November 18
Sean O'Donnell, Drexel University
“Behavior and Ecology of Neotropical Top Predators: the Army Ants”
Friday, November 11
R. Alexander Pyron, The George Washington University
“Evolution, Ecology, and the Origins of Global Snake Diversity”
Friday, November 4
Amy Freestone, Temple University
“Linking community ecology and macroecology: understanding marine diversity and invasions across latitude”
Friday, October 21
Suzete Gomes, USDA & Academy of Natural Sciences
“Taxonomy – an ally in the war against alien slugs: projects being developed at the USDA lab of Malacology.”
Friday, October 7
Ted Daeschler, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Report on the 2011 Nunavut Paleontological Expedition to Devon Island, Nunavut Territory, Canada”
Friday, September 30
Tatyana Livshultz, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Pollination biology of Parsonsia alboflavescens (Apocynaceae) in Taiwan”
Friday, September 23
Don Charles, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Using diatoms to develop water quality criteria for New Jersey streams”
Friday, September 9
Nate Rice, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Field work in Vietnam”
Friday, August 12, noon, Darwin Room
Maria Silvina Ussher, Moss Foundation, Margarita Island, Venezuela
“Mosses of Venezuela”
Friday, May 6, noon, Darwin Room
Doug Wechsler, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Bird Conservation in Ecuador”
Friday, May 20, noon, Darwin Room
Harald Beck, Towson University
“Ecosystem Services of Peccaries in the Amazon Rainforest”
Friday, April 29, noon, Darwin Room
Teresa Trego, Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania
“Tracking trends in pollination rates over time using herbarium specimens of Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)”
Friday, April 15, noon, Darwin Room
Zoe Panchen, University of Delaware
“Early bloomers in a changing climate: The impact of temperature changes on the flowering time of Greater Philadelphia native species”
Friday, April 8, noon, Darwin Room
John Hall, Academy of Natural Sciences
“Insights into the evolutionary history of the conjugating green algae”
Friday, April 1, noon, Darwin Room
Wesley Savage, Boston University
“How demography and directional selection shape patterns of genetic structure in natural populations of hybridizing lineages: empirical examples from salamanders and butterflies”
Friday, March 18, noon, Darwin Room
Alain Maasri, the Academy of Natural Sciences
“The price of Mongolian cashmere: an ecological perspective”
Friday, March 4, noon, Darwin Room
Virginia Pearson, Princeton University
“Probosciviruses, Hemorrhagic Disease and Host Defense: Ensuring Sustainability of Managed and Wild Elephant Populations - A presentation of new research and evidence of the Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesviruses found in wild elephants in Kenya”
Friday, February 11, noon, Darwin Room
Jacob Russell, Drexel University
“Deciphering patterns of symbiosis between the ants and their resident bacteria”
Monday, January 31
Andrés Vélez, University of Puerto Rico, Mayagez
Colombian cockroaches
Friday, January 28
Andrea Quattrini, Temple University
“Connectivity of habitat forming deep-sea corals in the Gulf of Mexico”
Friday, January 14
Mariangeles Arce Hernandez, Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
“Molecular phylogeny of thorny catfishes (Siluriformes: Doradidae)”