Going to Graduate School at the Museum

Monday, February 14 1:23 pm

Photo: © AMNH/D. Finnin

For an extraordinary group of New York City students, going to class means passing a Neanderthal skeleton, a 94-foot-long model of a blue whale, and a family of brown bears — and that’s just on the first floor.

These are the 13 students now enrolled in the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, which in 2006 became the only American museum—and the first museum in the Western Hemisphere—with the authority to grant the Ph.D. degree. In 2008, the Museum made history by enrolling its first class. Just last year, the New York State Board of Regents granted full institutional accreditation to the Richard Gilder Graduate School, a landmark decision that recognized the strength of the new program and the Museum’s long track record of training graduate students in partnership with leading institutions that include Columbia University, New York University, Cornell University, City University of New York, and Stony Brook University.

The Museum’s inaugural doctoral program is in comparative biology, with an interdisciplinary emphasis spanning the origins, history, and diversity of life on Earth. Here, the RichardGilder Graduate School students—who come to study from all over the world—have several distinct advantages. The Museum’s internationally recognized staff of curators and other scientists are their faculty. The Museum’s world-renowned collections of more than 32 million specimens and cultural artifacts are available for their research projects. The Museum’s active field work program offers students the opportunity to conduct research all over the globe. And some of the most advanced, state-of-the-art scientific facilities in the world are available on site at the Museum. Read more »

Museum’s REU Symposium Spotlights Student Summer Biology Research

Monday, August 16 9:02 am

Nearly 80% of interns from the first 10 years of the Museum’s REU program in biology have gone on to graduate school. Of those, 31% are now working in academia, and 25% hold non-faculty research positions. © AMNH/D. Finnin

The gene flow patterns of Amazonian birds, the diversity of bat teeth, mislabeled species at the local market: these were just a few of the topics presented at the 22nd Annual Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) biological sciences symposium held in the Museum’s Linder Theater earlier this month.

The symposium marked the conclusion of the 2010 REU program, a National Science Foundation-funded internship that offers college students the opportunity to work side by side with Museum scientists on research projects in the biological or physical sciences. Nearly 80% of interns from the first 10 years of the REU program in biology have gone on to graduate school and, within this group, 31% are now working in academia and 25% hold non-faculty research positions.

“This program is very important, not only because these undergraduates are generating cutting-edge research, but also for me, because it’s how I got started as a professor,” said Museum Curator Mark Siddall of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology, who has overseen the REU biology program since 2001, during opening remarks at the symposium.

This summer’s eight REU projects in biology spanned species, continents, and methodologies.

Isabella Akker, a student at Stanford University who worked with Joel Cracraft, curator-in-charge of the Museum’s Department of Ornithology, spent the summer sequencing and analyzing the DNA of the Blue-Crowned Manakin—a species of bird found in the Amazonian rainforest—that had been sampled from different geographic locations in South America.

Another REU intern, Berenice Villegas of Columbia University, looked into a phenomenon closer to home. Villegas worked with George Amato, director of the Sackler Institute of Comparative Genomics, to conduct a study that examined the mislabeling of endangered species—including turtle, alligator, and fish meat—sold illegally in New York City markets. Using a tool known as DNA barcoding—or analyzing a fragment of a gene to identify a particular species—Villegas found many cases of mislabeling as well as instances of threatened or near-threatened species for sale.

Villegas, an environmental biology major, said that conducting research with Museum scientists was an invaluable experience. “It was one of the best summers I’ve ever had,” she said of participating in the REU program.

Museum scientists were equally enthusiastic about working with young researchers. John Flynn, dean of the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, emphasized the value of the REU program in unscheduled remarks at the symposium’s conclusion.

“I was incredibly struck by the tenor of conversation and questioning—a testament to your excellent work as an integral part of creating a new generation of scientists,” said Flynn.

For more information about Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Museum, please visit the Fellowships and Opportunities section on the Richard Gilder Graduate Schoolwebsite.

John Flynn Elected as AAAS Fellow

Friday, December 18 3:06 pm

John Flynn, Frick Curator of Fossil Mammals and Professor and Dean of the Richard Gilder Graduate School, joins five other American Museum of Natural History colleagues as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

On December 17, it was announced that Dr. Flynn was elected by his peers for “distinguished contributions in vertebrate paleontology, especially carnivore evolution and faunal succession in South America, and for development of the graduate school at the Museum.”

“This honor emphasizes the value of Museum-based research and encyclopedic collections,” says Dr. Flynn. “My research is highly inter-disciplinary, integrating field and laboratory work, spanning many facets of geology and biology.” Dr. Flynn’s research helps resolve interesting questions like the history of the Andes and the pattern body and brain size changes during the evolution of carnivores.

Museum AAAS Fellows elected in pervious years are anthropologist Robert Carneiro, ornithologist Joel Cracraft, paleontologist Michael Novacek, entomologist Jerome Rozen, and physical anthropologist Ian Tattersall.

Richard Gilder Graduate School Receives Full Accreditation

Thursday, December 03 3:31 pm

In a vote late last month, the New York State Board of Regents awarded full accreditation to the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, the first Ph.D.-degree granting program at a U.S. museum.

The momentous vote was the final step in forming the Richard Gilder Graduate School and came three years after the Museum first received authorization from the Regents to establish a Ph.D.-granting program in comparative biology. The Richard Gilder Graduate School began academic operations in September 2008, and its Ph.D. program has enrolled two classes of students from top universities in the U.S., Colombia, France, and Sweden.

“This has been a historic journey for the Museum with a triumphant conclusion,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. “The accreditation of the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School by the Board of Regents represents both a landmark decision and a strong affirmation of the Museum’s scientific and educational leadership.”

The Museum’s curators and scientists serve as Richard Gilder Graduate School faculty, and students have access to state-of-the-art research facilities, a world-class collection of specimens, and a leading natural history library. Students take courses and carry out research in the Richard Gilder Graduate School complex on the fifth floor of the Museum’s iconic 77th Street building in addition to participating in field expeditions.

For more information on the Richard Gilder Graduate School at AMNH, please visit rggs.amnh.org.

The Richard Gilder Graduate School at AMNH celebrated its inaugural convocation in January 2009 - © AMNH/D. Finnin

Twenty Years of Summer Science at AMNH

1:33 pm

Allyse Hellmich walked swiftly through the dark room to the podium, eyes widening at the laser pointer. “Oooh,” said the Grinnell College student, snatching it to point the red beam at her first slide. Her research on the genetic relationships of scarlet macaws in a Guatemalan zoo, which will help launch a breeding program to replenish the endangered wild population, was about to be presented to a group of American Museum of Natural History scientists who had trained her over the summer.

Allyse was just one of three dozen undergraduates who counted galaxies, measured bones, analyzed volcanic rock, or photographed microscopic fontanelle last summer as part of the Museum’s 2009 Research Experiences for Undergraduates, paid summer internships that offer college students the chance to conduct research at the Museum.

“One of my students will be presenting a poster at the next national geology meeting,” says Jim Webster, Curator of Physical Sciences. “It’s a fantastic program. You get wonderful students with lots of questions that breathe a bit of new life into the Museum.”

Last summer marked the 20th year of the Museum’s biology REU program, currently shepherded by Curator Mark Siddall. “This program has mentored nearly 200 students over the years,” he says. “These students go on to graduate school, work in scientific laboratories, and have even penned 20 peer-reviewed publications in the last five years.”

Applications for summer 2010 are due February 1. For more information about this National Science Foundation-funded program, please visit the Richard Gilder Graduate School at AMNH online at rggs.amnh.org.

Research carried out by the Museum’s REU students will help launch a breeding program for the scarlet macaw - Kari Schmidt