Elephants and Bovids Project Team

As Project Conservation Intern, Jasmine undertakes all aspects of conservation for the elephant skull collection, including photography, treatment, 3D scanning, and rehousing. She is driven in the field of art conservation by possibilities to utilize collections like this one as tools for education.

Through this project, Jasmine aims to expand her general knowledge of preservation, and grow professionally as she navigates challenges that require her to think creatively in her approach.

Riley joins the project as a pre-program intern interested in objects conservation. Her background in archaeological conservation sparked her desire to work with natural history collections.

As an intern, Riley takes part in all aspects of conservation for the elephants project, including documentation, treatment, and rehousing. During her time at AMNH, she aims to gain a deeper knowledge of preventative conservation and rehousing practices as she contributes to improving the care and research accessibility of the collection.

Devon began working on the project as a fourth-year graduate student at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. She has since completed her graduate studies and joined the AMNH Science Conservation Department as Assistant Conservator.

Her efforts have focused on developing custom housing solutions for complex elephant skull specimens to increase their research access, and to participate in the stewardship of this important and previously underserved collection.

Rebecca Rosen is a third-year graduate student in art conservation and art history, focusing on objects conservation. Joining the project team in Summer 2025, they have pulled from prior experience working with outdoor sculpture and archaeological objects, finding similarities in the challenges of working with larger-scale objects and in conserving objects not only as individual artifacts but also as sources of information for ongoing study.

This is their first experience working with natural history collections, and they look forward to taking the skills and knowledge gained on this project into future conservation roles. They have also worked at the September 11 Memorial & Museum, the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and Dumbarton Oaks.

Anna-Colette was raised in Delaware County, Pennsylvania with admiration for Philadelphia’s artistic and scientific history. While studying as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware, an internship at the Iron Hill Science Center ignited her passion for natural history conservation.

She is continuing to develop this area of interest through graduate training opportunities like this one. Anna-Colette has also worked at the Wagner Free Institute of Philadelphia, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and the Yale Peabody Museum.

Maggie has a background in mammal collection management but is interested in many aspects of natural history collection care. In her role on this project, she worked primarily on dry cleaning of specimens, ultimately helping to conserve four complete skulls over the course of the summer.

Ilsa has been a volunteer in the Mammalogy Department for four years. She has a doctorate in Biological Anthropology having done the bulk of her research using the museum’s primate collection. She has always hoped to return to the Mammalogy Department again and is very pleased to be helping prepare these amazing specimens for future research.