Jason D. Weckstein

Bio

I am an associate professor in Drexel's BEES department and associate curator in the department of Ornithology at the Academy of Natural Sciences. I obtained a BS degree in Natural Resources from the University of Michigan in 1993, an MS in Zoology from the University of Minnesota and a PhD from Louisiana State University in 2003. After obtaining the PhD I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Illinois Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where I stayed on as a staff scientist until joining the BEES faculty. I have over 17 years of experience working in natural history museums and have conducted research on birds and their parasites in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Ghana, Malawi, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition to teaching, training, and research, my additional interests at the Academy of Natural Sciences include collections building, curation and public outreach.

Curriculum vitae

My Research

My current research program focuses on three main areas: 1) avian phylogenetics, comparative biology and evolutionary history, 2) biodiversity surveys of birds and their parasites and pathogens, and 3) coevolutionary history of birds and their parasites. My research involves both active field collecting of bird and associated parasite specimens and analysis of DNA sequence data to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of birds and their parasites. Specimens housed in natural history collections such as the Academy of Natural Sciences are a critical resource for my research program. My research and publications have included studies of host-parasite coevolution, evolution of geographic ranges, mimicry, hybridization, geographic variation, and population genetic structure as well as more traditional phylogenetics, systematics, and taxonomic studies of both birds and their parasites.

Nathan H. Rice

Bio

I manage the Academy’s Ornithology collection. In 1995, I obtained by BS degree in Zoology and Wildlife Management from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. I earned my PhD from the University of Kansas in 2000. Since the fall of 1998 I have been working for the Academy of Natural Sciences and have been working in systematic bird collections since 1993. I have field and collecting experience throughout the United States as well as parts of Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and South America. My current field collecting efforts are focused in the new world with major expeditions travelling annually to Brazil and Mexico.

Curriculum vitae

My Research

I am particularly interested in the evolutionary history of various groups of neotropical birds. My ongoing research has focused on the systematic relationships of the ground antbirds (Formicariidae) and their relatives. In addition to this systematic work I am also interested in reporting on my field collecting efforts through bird density and diversity publications along with notes on the natural history of birds.

The Collection

The Academy maintains an ornithological collection of nearly 250,000 study skins and 20,000 tissue samples. Of great historical importance, specimens in the collection predate the founding of the Academy in 1812 and include important early bird collections from such famous collectors as Alexander Wilson, John Audubon, and John Gould. Large series of data rich specimens have recently been added from the Andes in South American, southeastern Asia, and Australia. The Academy’s ornithology department is actively adding specimens, locally and internationally, at a rate of 2000 specimens per year. The collection is completely databased and specimen information is available via VertNet.

Janice H. Dispoto

Bio

I have been at the Academy since the fall of 2014. I am presently the Lab Manager of Ornithology and am actively involved in all aspects of research and the day to day activities in the department. I am most currently involved in the sequencing and sequence analysis of data from haematozoan parasites of Neotropical and Nearctic avian hosts. I earned my BS in Biochemistry from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia and my MS in Biology from the University of Saint Joseph in Hartford, Connecticut. Aside from my work at the Academy, I have been involved in research at the Wistar Institute in the study of West Nile Virus and Thomas Jefferson University where the research pertained to the neurobiology of hypertension. I have also spent 11 years teaching science at the middle school, high school, and college levels.

Therese A. Catanach

Bio

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Ornithology Department. I earned a BS (double major) in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences and Entomology followed by a MS in Entomology from Texas A&M University, College Station in 2006 and 2009 respectively. I obtained my Ph.D. in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology from the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign in 2013. I have also successfully defended a second Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences at Texas A&M. I have been at the Academy since January 2016. I have conducted fieldwork around the world including the United States, Philippines, Tanzania, Kenya, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, South Africa, Swaziland, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Argentina, and the islands of Dominica (West Indies) and Ascension (South Atlantic).

My Research

My current research focuses on coevolutionary history of birds and their parasites. I am particularly interested in diurnal birds of prey and their associated chewing lice. I am currently investigating two louse lineages, one of which is able to disperse via phoresis (hitchhiking on more mobile species, in this case winged parasitic flies), while the other lineage is unable to disperse in this method. To explore this system I actively collect birds and their associated parasites in the field and then reconstruct evolutionary relationships of both hosts and parasites using both traditional sequencing methods and next-generation techniques. Other research topics include phylogenetics, biogeography, and divergence time estimation of many different taxa including insects, birds, and viruses. I have also described a new species of leafhopper and written a book chapter on insect collection methods.

Matthew R. Halley

Bio

I am a doctoral student in the Department of Biodiversity, Earth & Environmental Science (BEES) at Drexel University, and the Editor of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club (DVOC) and its journal Cassinia. I currently hold a BA degree in Sociology (2004, Pennsylvania State University) and a MS degree in Natural Resources (2014, Delaware State University), and have conducted field research in Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Israel, Indonesia, India, Canada, and the United States.

For my curriculum vitae, visit my website: http://matthewhalley.wordpress.com

My Research

I am an ethologist interested in the proximate and ultimate causes of bird behavior, especially thrushes (Aves: Turdidae). I tend to be fascinated by secretive species that inhabit dense thickets, that seem to be always just beyond our observation, and for which even the sexes are sometimes impossible to distinguish in the field. To expose the secret lives of these birds, I use modern technology—video and audio recorders, genetic analysis, tracking units, radio telemetry, etc.—to test hypotheses about the proximate and ultimate causes of bird behavior, and to reconstruct the evolutionary histories of living bird species. My dissertation project at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University is focused on systematics and evolution of the genus Catharus. My interests are interdisciplinary and draw from the fields of biology, physics, Earth history, music theory, and history of science. In the latter field, I am softly focused on the American Enlightenment period (c.1700-1830), searching for and exposing unknown primary sources that shed new light on the past.

Emily N. Ostrow

Bio

I am a BS/MS student in the Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES) department at Drexel. My undergraduate research experiences have spanned many labs, but I finally found my place in the Weckstein Lab and Ornithology Department at the Academy of Natural Sciences. In addition to my research, I help in the collection with specimen preparation, tissue loans, and databasing. I also have local and international experience collecting samples both in the Philadelphia area and Nicaragua.

Curriculum vitae

My Research

In the past I have worked collecting samples and processing data for a Lyme disease project. Currently, I am working on a project using UCE data from a mix of frozen tissue and antique DNA sources with toucans and other taxa.