Although the Museum of Zoology is strictly a research unit, museum
curators also hold academic appointments in the Department
of Biology. Master's and Doctoral students whose thesis advisors
are museum staff members are typically housed in the Museum and
have direct access to the collections for their research. In addition,
the Museum provides funding each semester for a half-time Graduate
Student Assistant. The students filling this position are usually
doctoral candidates from the Department of Biology or School of
Natural Resources with an interest in arthropod systematics or
biology. Typically, these students assist in the curation and
management of the collection under the supervision of Mark O'Brien.
This experience provides valuable hands-on curatorial training.
Graduate students also have a number of courses and seminars (both
formal and extracurricular) available during the school year.
In addition to formal courses in insect biology and parasitology
(including Medical Entomology) offered in the Department of Biology
and School of Natural Resources
and Environment, seminars and study groups in Systematics,
Morphometrics, Molecular evolution, and the informal "Bug
Lunch" seminars are regularly offered.
Insect Division Graduate Students
- Ashley Dowling - Host-parasite coevolution,
molecular systematics.
- George Hammond - Ecology of Parasitic
Mites on Orthoptera.
- Tim Connallon - Genetics of sexually
dimorphic traits, mechanisms maintaining heritable fitness variation within
populations, and the genetics of hybrid sterility and inviability..
- Elen ONeal - Disentangling thecontributions
of genetic drift and sexual selection toward the inter-populational divergence
of characters involved in female mate choice.
Undergraduate
Research Students
- Chester
Elliott
- Tracie
Goodness