The Field Museum 2004 Annual Report to the Board Of
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
THE FIELD MUSEUM 2004 ANNUAL REPORT TO THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES ACADEMIC AFFAIRS Office of Academic Affairs, The Field Museum 1400 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL 60605-2496 USA Phone (312) 665-7811 Fax (312) 665-7806 http://www.fieldmuseum.org/ - This Report Printed on Recycled Paper - May 1, 2005 CONTENTS 2004 Annual Report ......................................................................................................................................................3 Collections and Research Committee..........................................................................................................................11 Academic Affairs Staff List.........................................................................................................................................12 Publications, 2004 .......................................................................................................................................................18 Active Grants, 2004.....................................................................................................................................................39 Conferences, Symposia, Workshops and Invited Lectures, 2004................................................................................ 45 Museum and Public Service, 2004 ..............................................................................................................................53 Field Work and Research Travel, 2004 .......................................................................................................................62 Public Education and Outreach, 2004 .........................................................................................................................69 Higher Education, 2004...............................................................................................................................................81 Training Programs, 2004 ............................................................................................................................................88 Academic Affairs Interns, 2004...................................................................................................................................95 Resident Graduate Students, 2004...............................................................................................................................97 Academic Affairs Volunteers, 2004 ............................................................................................................................98 Honorary Appointments, 2004 ..................................................................................................................................100 Collection Statistics, 2004.........................................................................................................................................107 Field Museum Press .................................................................................................................................................111 The Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution ..........................................................................112 Scanning Electron Microscope .................................................................................................................................113 Scholarship Committee .............................................................................................................................................114 ACADEMIC AFFAIRS – 2004 ANNUAL REPORT 2004 was a year of challenges, opportunities and triumphs for the scientific programs at The Field Museum. While the challenges were real, they were just that—challenges—not insurmountable obstacles, and were more than offset by many successes. Each new day in the Field Museum’s laboratories and collections brings with it further advances and great discoveries, thanks to the exceptional caliber and productivity of our scientific staff. Their contributions include international-level research, acquisition of major grants, production of hundreds of scientific publications, fieldwork resulting in valuable new collections, training of students in collaboration with universities and other institutions, science-based conservation action, and the education of the Museum’s many audiences through exhibitions and public programs. The main text of this 2004 Annual Report catalogs the myriad details of those contributions. In the next few pages, we want to share with you highlights of the most significant triumphs and tests of the past year. This museum is grounded in the new knowledge created by scientific discovery, and 2004 witnessed a particularly outstanding roster of significant achievements in that regard. Just a few examples of journal articles from more than 250 publications that appeared in 2004 illustrate the striking breadth of those achievements: 1 In the prestigious journal Nature, Assistant Curator of Paleontology Peter Makovicky and colleagues revealed dramatic new findings on growth patterns and lifespan of Tyrannosaurus rex drawn from study of growth rings in the bones of twenty tyrannosaurids (including our own “Sue”). 2 Jonathan Haas, MacArthur Curator of Anthropology, was the lead author of a Nature piece announcing the results of archaeological excavations and radiocarbon dating that confirm the presence of an extraordinary complex of more than 20 major ceremonial and urban centers along the Peruvian coast that date to more than 5,000 years ago—representing the oldest civilization in the Andes. 3 Jennifer McElwain, Associate Curator of Paleobotany, described in the journal Geology a new method for assessing ancient land elevations by studying the density of the stomata on fossil leaves—a groundbreaking technique that will aid the study of evolution and global climate patterns. 4 Field Biologist Steve Goodman (Zoology/Mammals) was among six co-authors of a paper published in Journal of Human Evolution that traces the history of large animal extinction in Madagascar, linking radiocarbon dates and data on human-induced or natural habitat change to the disappearance of giant lemurs, giant tortoises, elephant birds, and other animals—shedding new light on a much-discussed question. 5 Associate Curator of Meteoritics Meenakshi Wadhwa and Isotope Geochemistry Lab Manager Phillip Janney were co-authors with the University of Chicago’s Nicolas Dauphas of a report in Science establishing the sedimentary origin of the controversial Archean banded rocks from Greenland, providing support for the claim of earlier scientists that the rocks could have preserved the earliest traces of life on Earth. 6 A Science article by the Curator of Fossil Amphibians and Reptiles Olivier Rieppel, with colleagues from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Chicago, offered some answers to a 150-year-old mystery surrounding the function of the long necks of a group of Triassic reptiles known as protorosaurs. 7 Publishing in the journal Bryology, Mycology Collection Manager Robert L¸cking and colleague MarÌa Herrera-Campos (National Autonomous University of Mexico) described five new species of foliicolous lichens (lichens that grow on leaves) from the montane forests of southern Mexico, bringing the number of new species identified by this team in the past three years to more than 250. The presence of Field Museum scientists in high-profile, peer-reviewed international journals is as high as it has ever been—a resounding indicator of the quality of our work and the significance of our contributions. The many books and monographs published by our scientists are another gauge of the substantial scholarly achievements. 2004 saw the publication of numerous authored or edited volumes from Field Museum scientists, including: 1 Curator Michael Dillon of Botany and his Peruvian colleagues published the second in a series of books on the floristic diversity of northern Peru, Bosque Montanos (“Montane Forests”) which illustrates over 190 species from 76 plant families and contains an annotated floristic checklist of some 1500 species for these highly threatened forest fragments—the first of its kind. 2 The fourth edition of Images of the Past by T. Douglas Price (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Gary Feinman (Curator and Chair, Anthropology) was published by McGraw-Hill. This introduction to world archaeology has become firmly established as a major textbook. 8 MacArthur Curator Bruce Patterson (Zoology/Mammals) published The Lions of Tsavo, a book exploring the general biological context of Africa’s notorious man-eaters. 9 Vice President and Head of Collections and Research Lance Grande (also Curator in Geology), together with two colleagues, authored a monograph on fossil and living stingrays of the world. This compendium described new species and analyzed the evolutionary relationships of all rays. 3 Curator Larry Heaney (Zoology/Mammals) and colleague Mark Lomolino (SUNY–Syracuse) co- edited a new book, Frontiers of Biogeography: New Directions in the Geography of Nature, the first in a series called “Frontiers of Biogeography” from Sinauer Associates. 4 Curator of Mycology Greg Mueller co-edited Biodiversity of Fungi. Replete with essays on topics ranging from slime molds to fungal parasites to truffles, the book has rapidly become the standard reference on the subject. 5 The edited volume Archaeological Perspectives on Political Economies was brought out by Anthropology Curator and Chair Gary