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  AntLab News     February 2011     University of Copenhagen, Department of Biology, Graduate Course in Tropical Behavioural Ecology and Evolution  Rachelle Adams, SI Research Collaborator and Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Copenhagen, is organizing, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, a three week field course in Tropical Behavioural Ecology and Evolution. Students will be expected to use 45 working hours to prepare on-line (reading relevant literature, etc.) before arriving in Panama to conduct both group collaborative and independent field projects in order to gain an understanding of how to measure invertebrate biodiversity, behavioural ecological and evolutionary fieldwork in tropical systems. Standard collecting protocols, DNA sampling, laboratory studies and preparation of museum voucher specimens will also be addressed. The course is primarily targeted at Danish and international students enrolled in PhD programs. For more information contact Rachelle at radams@bio.ku.dk or visit the website: http://www1.bio.ku.dk/english/research/oe/cse/kurser/tbe2011/     Ted Schultz and the AntPAC*     *the Antlab Phylogenetic Analysis Cluster, packing 64 CPUs of parallel-processing power!     March 2010 AntLab News     Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo: Grant Magnet. The AntLab's Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo was one of only 16 graduate students (out of a total of 62 applicants) to be awarded a Travel Grant by the North American Section of the International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI).  The purpose of the $1000 grant is to enable grad students to attend the 16th quadrennial IUSSI International Congress in Copenhagen on 8-14 August 2010, where Jeffrey will be buying the first round of beers.  Jeffrey also recently received two other grant awards: The Max and Vera Britton Environmental Science Award, from the Cosmos Club Foundation ($3000) and, with Ted Schultz, an NMNH Small Grants Program award for $5000.  Congratulations, Jeffrey! Upcoming Travel: Jeffrey Sosa-Calvo and Ted Schultz will be using the latter two grant awards mentioned above to support travel to Brazil from 25 March to 24 April.  Among their objectives: (1) Locate, excavate, and document nests of the rare fungus-growing ant Apterostigma megacephala in FLONA National Park near Parauapebas in the state of Pará, south of Belem.  (2) Drive for three days from Paraupebas to Brasilia, stopping to collect along the way.  (3) At Agua Limpa reserve, near Brasilia, locate, excavate, and document nests of an unnamed fungus-growing ant that is not referable to any known genus and that is likely to be very important for understanding early fungus-growing ant evolution. Ted will travel to Austin, Texas, from 28 April to 02 May in order to (1) attend the thesis defense of Christian Rabeling, who is studying the systematics and evolution of the fungus-growing ant genus Mycocepurus, (2) help Christian and fellow grad student Barrett Klein, who is also defending that week, celebrate their (presumably) successful defenses, and (3) to collect Cyphomyrmex wheeleri, an unusual fungus-growing ant native to the U.S.      January 2010     Departures In September, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow and SI Postdoctoral Fellow Scott Solomon started his new job in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Rice University in Houston, Texas.  But Scott remains an active member of the AntLab.  As a NMNH Research Collaborator, he is working with Ted and Sean as the lead on two projects focused on the phylogenies of  the two fungus-growing ant genera Trachymyrmex and Acromyrmex. Matt Kweskin departed the AntLab on December 20 for a permanent position with NMNH LAB, where he now serves as the IT Manager.  Matt has been associated with the NMNH Department of Entomology since 1994, when he was an RTP intern under the advisorship of Ron McGinley.  Subsequently, in 1997, Matt worked as a contractor with Ted Schultz.  After earning a graduate degree at UT Austin, where he conducted research on fungus-growing ants with Ulrich Mueller, Matt returned to the Washington, DC, area.  During the past two years, we have been fortunate to have Matt working in the AntLab, where we have benefited from his diverse skills in specimen-based entomology, molecular systematics, and computers and databases.  We look forward to continuing to work with Matt in his new position at LAB! In February, SI Postdoctoral Fellow Rachelle Adams will leave us to become a prestigious Marie Curie Fellow in the lab of Koos Boomsma in Copenhagen.  But, fortunately, we do not have to say good-bye!  Rachelle will continue to hold a Visiting Scientist position in the AntLab and, at the end of her term as a Marie Curie Fellow in 2012, she will return to us to resume work on her SI postdoc. Arrivals Three new people have recently joined the AntLab.  Shelah Morita received her Ph.D. from UC Davis in 2006, where she studied the evolution of long-tongued tabanid fly pollinators.  She has a longstanding interest in the evolutionary patterns of floral-associated morphology in the Diptera and how it leads to specialization and speciation. Shelah is currently a co-PI on a NSF Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy (PEET) grant to study horse flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) and is conducting research utilizing the USNM Diptera collection.  It's great to have a non-hymenopterist expanding our horizons in the AntLab! Paul Armstrong received his Ph.D. in Zoology in 2001 from the University of Hawaii, where he worked on the conservation genetics of the Hawaiian monk seal.  Paul has extensive experience in all aspects of molecular systematics, including designing and setting up George Roderick's lab at UC Berkeley.  We are fortunate to have him working in the AntLab as a molecular systematics technician. Hong Zhao received a Master's degree in Botany in 2001 from the Southwest Agricultural University in Chongqing, China.  As part of the Lepidoptera AToL project, Hong worked for two years in the laboratory of Dr. Jerry Regier at the University of Maryland, where she acquired formidable skills in molecular systematics methods.  Sean Brady and Ted Schultz are fortunate to have Hong working as a molecular systematics technician on a number of ongoing projects. Welcome, Shelah, Paul, and Hong! Other News Ted Schultz and NMNH Research Associate Natasha Mehdiabadi, along with co-PIs (and NMNH Research Associates) Charlie Mitter, Ulrich Mueller, and Alexander Mikheyev and research collaborators Sean Brady and Steve Rehner (likewise a NMNH Research Associate), have been awarded a three-year National Science Foundation Grant for $445,000 for "Phylogenetic research on the origin and evolution of agriculture in ants."  The grant was awarded through the University of Maryland to Ted as an Adjunct Professor there. In the past few months, Sean Brady traveled to several professional meetings to give presentations, including the Third International Barcode of Life Conference in Mexico City (November), the Entomological Society of America meetings (December), and the Northeastern Arthropod Divergence Time Estimation Workshop at Rutgers (January). Ted Schultz also presented two talks at the Entomological Society of America meetings and one at the International Ethological Conference in Rennes, France (August), and attended the Global Ant Project meeting at the Field Museum in November. Larvae!  The year 2009 witnessed the births of two new AntLabbers.  Sam was born on March 8, 2009, to Rachel Hinton and husband Matt Kweskin.  Darius was born on July 11, 2009, to Natasha Mehdiabadi and husband Cyrus Jilla.  Welcome, Sam and Darius, to our big, weird, wonderful world!

  
  
  

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