April 2019 – Zamudio Lab

Two more KZLab undergrads on their way to grad school

Sean McHugh (’18) and Brianna Mims (’19) are off to grad school! Sean will be attending Virginia Tech next semester, and Brianna will be joining the EEB department at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Congrats to both, and we know you will both do great things!

KZ elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Kelly was honored yesterday with the news that she has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and will be inducted in a ceremony to be held at Harvard in October!

Of course it is a great honor. but this is what she is really excited about! Michelle Obama was elected this year too!

Lina Arcila Hernandez, Active Learning Initiative Post-doc, joining our lab

Lina Arcila Hernandez will be joining us starting May 2019. She will fill the new ALI post-doc position in EEB to study the feasibility and efficacy of implementing social and team-based learning in online teaching platforms. Lina will be teaching in BioEE1781, the online version of Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, and working with Michelle Smith and Kelly Zamudio on her research. We look forward to having her!

Herpetology field trip to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland

Clyde Peeling hosted 32 Cornell Herpetology students this weekend!

Every year our Herpetology Class goes to Clyde Peeling’s Reptiland, an AZA accredited zoo that focuses on reptile and amphibian diversity. We get a warm welcome from Mr. Peeling himself, get a behind the scenes tour, and then marvel at the intricate exhibits that are designed and fabricated by Clyde’s sons. A wonderful Zoo! And who would have thunk one could see courting Komodo dragons in Pennsylvania!

Komodo dragons courting, male tried for awhile, but she was not interested.

Dendrobates leucomela
Crotalus adamanteus
Dendroaspis viridis
Varanus komodoensis

Cortland Kindergarten Learns All About Frogs

Jordan Garcia leads a discussion on frogs with students from Cortland.

Grad students from our lab are participating in GRASSHOPR this year, a Graduate Student School Outreach Program. GRASSHOPR pairs Cornell graduate students with teachers in Tompkins County and Geneva to teach 3- to 5-session mini-courses on topics related to the graduate student’s field or interests. Students at Randall Elementary in Cortland learned all about frog diversity, tadpoles and metamorphosis, and natural history.

More importantly, students got to meet “real frog scientists”!