The Peter Buck Fellowship Program 2013 Progress Report
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The Peter Buck Fellowship Program 2013 Progress Report TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Overview II. Voices of the Fellows: Thank You, Dr. Buck! - Biographies and letters from the current Buck Fellows III. Peter Buck Fellows: Class of 2014 2013 Progress Report Overview Now in its fourth year, the National Museum of Natural History’s Peter Buck Fellowship Program continues to shape the lives of its participants in profound and lasting ways; it affects each of the Museum’s seven departments and expands its reach with each new class of fellows. The extraordinary research opportunities offered to Peter Buck Fellows at the beginning of their careers can be transforming experiences for them, leading them into lifetime scholarly pursuits that will help us better understand the natural world, and our place in it. As of June 2014, the program has admitted 46 predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows, including nine fellows who have since completed their tenure at NMNH. The program continues at full capacity and this year was the most competitive yet. Out of 99 eligible fellowship applicants, we selected 13 finalists for the Class of 2014. Awardees have received their doctorates from prestigious institutions such as the University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and Harvard University, to name a few. Like last year, a majority of the fellows in this cycle (9 of 13) are receiving complementary funding from other sources, which allows us to accept more highly-qualified candidates and speaks to the caliber of our applicants and their projects. From naming a newly discovered bird-like dinosaur, Anzu wylei (informally known as the “Chicken From Hell”), to studying ear function in baleen whales that tells us about the environmental impacts of ocean noise pollution, these bright scholars are contributing to the larger scientific world. As they inquire, test, and discover, they are closely supported by advisors and collaborators within the Smithsonian community and beyond. It is through their work in the field, in our labs, and using our vast museum collections that these young minds are expanding the limits of what we know about our planet’s past, present, and future. Your generosity and ongoing support for the Peter Buck Fellowship Program continue to have a transformative effect on these talented individuals and on the Museum. Because of your magnanimous commitment to education and research, we are able to support the endeavors of early- career scientists and provide enriching opportunities for the best and brightest, now and in the future. Thank you for your dedication to this flourishing program, and for all that you do to promote science and the mission of this Museum. The following progress report contains two sections: Voices of the Fellows: Thank You, Dr. Buck! A personal profile and accompanying letter from each of the current Peter Buck Fellows. In their own words, the Fellows provide updates on their progress, highlights from the past year, and reflections on their contributions to science. Peter Buck Fellows, Class of 2014 A listing of the recently-selected fellows and their research topics. 2013 Progress Report Voices of the Fellows Thank You, Dr. Buck! 2013 Progress Report Current Buck Fellows Name Department Dates of Fellowship Cheryl Ames Invertebrate Zoology January 2014 – December 2015 Jamie Baldwin-Fergus Invertebrate Zoology February 2013 – January 2015 Richard S. Barclay Paleobiology January 2012 – January 2015 Ricardo Betancur Vertebrate Zoology November 2013 – November 2015 Bonnie Blaimer Entomology February 2013 – January 2015 Sara Casado-Zapico Anthropology June 2012 – June 2014 Habiba Chirchir Anthropology September 2013 – August 2015 Frederick Davis Mineral Sciences September 2012 – September 2015 Klint Ericson Anthropology September 2013 – November 2015 Brent Grocholski Mineral Sciences September 2011 – May 2014 Eliécer Gutiérrez Vertebrate Zoology May 2012 – March 2015 Caroline Judy Vertebrate Zoology January 2014 – December 2015 Neil Kelley Paleobiology January 2014 – December 2015 Fredrick Larabee Entomology July 2013 – July 2014 Tyler Lyson Vertebrate Zoology October 2012 – September 2014 Molly McDonough Vertebrate Zoology February 2014 – February 2016 Leslie Reeder-Myers Anthropology September 2013 – August 2015 Graham Slater Paleobiology September 2012 – September 2015 Jae-Cheon Sohn Entomology July 2013 – July 2015 Rachel Warnock Paleobiology March 2013 – March 2015 Vertebrate Zoology and Maya Yamato January 2013 – January 2015 Paleobiology Reuven Yeshurun Anthropology September 2012 – August 2014 Jing Zhang Mineral Sciences February 2014 – February 2016 Ning Zhang Botany July 2013 – June 2015 2013 Progress Report Cheryl Lewis Ames, Dept. of Invertebrate Zoology University of Maryland Predoctoral Fellow: January 2014 – December 2015 Research Title: Understanding the Molecular Basis Behind the Box Jellyfish Sting Advisor: Allen Collins (Zoologist, NMFS, NOAA), Karen Osborn (Research Zoologist, Curator of Annelida and Isopoda), and Alexa E. Bely (University of Maryland, College Park) Cheryl Ames’ research focuses on uncovering the molecular basis of the so-called stinging cells of the box jellyfish Alatina alata, which forms monthly reproductive swarms in several Caribbean and Pacific localities. Stinging cells are actually venom-filled organelles called nematocysts found in all species of the phylum Cnidaria (e.g. corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish), and are used in predation and defense. Despite sometimes causing painful stings or fatalities in human victims, the molecular basis of nematocysts is poorly understood. As a Peter Buck Predoctoral Fellow, Cheryl’s research objectives are to identify the genes associated with A. alata nematocyst production (using transcriptomics), determine at what stages of development the genes are expressed (i.e. transcribed from the genome), and characterize the venom proteins encoded by those genes (using proteomics). Understanding molecular mechanisms of nematocyst production (nematogenesis) during larval development will provide insight into the evolution of novel genes and venom proteins. Additionally, her findings may have applications to the biomedical field for prevention and treatment of sting victims. 2013 Progress Report Dr. Jamie Baldwin-Fergus, Dept. of Invertebrate Zoology Duke University Postdoctoral Fellow: February 2013 – January 2015 Research Title: Visual Adaptations to the Deep Water Column in Hyperiid Amphipods Advisor: Karen Osborn (Research Zoologist, Curator of Annelida and Isopoda) Jamie Baldwin Fergus received a Ph.D. in biology in March, 2012 from Duke University. Her dissertation research explored vision and sexual signaling in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. Broadly, she is interested in visual ecology of marine crustaceans. Jamie studies vision physiology, eye morphology, and visually mediated behaviors. She also uses mathematical modeling to estimate how the world appears to an animal’s visual system. During her time at the Smithsonian, Jamie is studying the visual adaptations of hyperiid amphipods. Hyperiids are small crustacean invertebrates that are abundant from the surface down to the deepest depths of the oceans, with particular abundance in the twilight zone (200-1000 meters below the surface). At twilight-zone depths, available light is limited to increasingly dim and blue light and bioluminescence. In this zone it is a matter of life and death to see, but not be seen. As a result, hyperiids have developed a wide range of optical configurations, likely an evolutionary response to the complexities of the optical environment in the deep pelagic ocean. 2013 Progress Report Dear Dr. Buck, Thank you for the opportunity to study at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History. I’ve been studying the eyes of hyperiid amphipods, a family of small marine crustaceans, for the last 14 months. After getting to know the family through studying specimens from the museum collections, I was able to go to the museum’s field station at Carrie Bow Cay, as well as a research cruise in Monterey Bay, to collect fresh samples for use in histology and physiology experiments. I’ve been able to determine the wavelengths of light seen by three species using a special microspectrophotometer at Duke University. I have also completed eye histology on Paraphronima gracilis, a species with one of the most unique apposition compound eye configurations that I’ve ever seen. Instead of having one retina in each eye, it has twelve! They hyperiid family has such mysterious eyes. I’m having a great time trying to solve their puzzling visual adaptions to life in the deep pelagic. Thank you again for this opportunity, Jamie Baldwin Fergus Dr. Richard S. Barclay, Dept. of Paleobiology Northwestern University Postdoctoral Fellow: January 2012 – January 2015 Research Title: A Geologic Analogue for Modern CO2 Increase: Reconstructing Atmospheric CO2 through the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum Advisor: Scott Wing (Curator of Fossil Plants) Rich Barclay received his Ph.D. in June 2011 from Northwestern University. He has published seven papers and has participated in many field expeditions in North America, South America, Europe, and Greenland. He proposes to reconstruct changes in the CO2 concentration of the atmosphere that occurred during an interval of rapid global warming 56 million years ago. His research will help constrain the sensitivity of Earth’s climate system to changes in CO2, and thus will have high significance in geology and climatology, as well as