NEW YORK, NY (PNAN) – The American Museum of Natural History held its eighth commencement under the iconic blue whale in the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. On Thursday, October 14, 2021, conferring Ph.D. in comparative biology and Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Earth science residency degrees, the annual ceremony returned to the Museum after the 2020 ceremony was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commencement celebrated four doctoral graduates in comparative biology, and to date, the Richard Gilder Graduate School has graduated 36 doctoral graduates, who are employed in science, academic, education, and museum careers, including at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, National Park Service, California Academy of Sciences, City University of New York, and the Audubon Society.
The Museum’s MAT program recognized 30 graduates, all of whom are currently teaching. Since the MAT program began, it has prepared 139 Earth Science teachers who are now teaching more than 14,000 students in high-needs schools and cumulatively, more than 55,000 students in high-needs schools have benefitted from MAT graduate teachers.
The Richard Gilder Graduate School continued to prepare and support degree candidates and alumni during this challenging time throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Students in the comparative biology Ph.D. program continued their coursework and research, tapping into the Museum’s collections of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts.
MAT program faculty expanded the modeling and instruction of online teaching strategies to respond to the rapid migration to remote education in schools and used a variety of technologies to create virtual field trips for participants. In 2020, 14 new MAT graduates began their teaching careers in high-needs schools, most in remote-learning settings due to the pandemic.
This year’s doctoral graduates carried out a range of significant research. Alexandra Buczek focused her studies on the response of Southern Californian coastal marine mollusk communities to climate change approximately 3 million years ago, during which the Earth experienced a major warming analogous to modern climate change.
Using only samples that she collected in the field, Buczek investigated whether precise numerical ages could be assigned to the geological units, compared the utility of two alternative paleo-temperature reconstruction methods, and determined the environmental factors that drove the spatial distribution of marine mollusks across three marine basins during this interval of substantial climate change.
Her research provided insights into potential responses of modern ecosystems to future climate warming. Buczek also engaged a diverse group of urban high school students in the Museum’s Lang Science Program.
Melissa Ingala examined how symbiotic gut microbes, the microbiome facilitated the ecological radiation of New World bats, particularly with respect to their diets. Using samples she collected on three expeditions to Belize, she uncovered evidence that bats may rely on their gut bacteria to fulfill critical nutritional gaps in their diets.
Exemplifying the unique fieldwork opportunities of the Museum’s Ph.D. program, Ingala also organized and led a collaborative expedition to the Tahuayo River near Iquitos, Perú to survey a diverse community of Amazonian bats.
Kaiya Provost studied population genomics of North American warm desert birds, incorporating a wide variety of techniques in her research, including genomics, geometric morphometrics, bioinformatics, and bioacoustics.
In addition to conducting behavioral surveys and specimen collection during field work throughout Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. Provost also honed her skills as an educator as the Scientist in Residence for 5th grade girls at the Spence School.
Lukas Musher researched how avian biodiversity arose and accumulated in the Neotropics, combining phylogenomics, biogeography, population genetics, and statistical modeling to better understand the origins and assembly of bird communities. His research included field work to the Southwestern United States as well as to the Amazon, the most diverse terrestrial ecosystem and biome on the planet, where he collected many new specimens and documented bird diversity along the Roosevelt River in Brazil.
Graduates from the Museum’s MAT program included the following 15 individuals from the 8th cohort, who completed the program in August 2020: Ethan Carotti, Jose Garcia-Villar, Lauren Humphreys, Madison Huscher, Florence Laplaca, Jaiwantie Manni, Nicolle Martinez, Kellie O’Grady, Trishna Ramsamooj, Sonya Riccio, Marlo Romero, Anny Sainvil, Olivia Santangelo, Mackenzie Ulrop and Erick Wright.
Those graduating from the 9th cohort, who finished the program in 2021 included: Ian Burns, Shaolin Censullo, Brian Coakley, Isabelle Cristescu, Nicholas Franzen, Anna Maria Jack, Kate La Spina, Anjelle Martinez, Rocio Martinez, Daniel Mollitor, Madison Pancake, Andy Peterson, Julie Rozen, Noah Salwen, and Justin Schneider.
The Museum also recognized David N. Spergel, an eminent astrophysicist whose work has deepened understanding of the age, shape, and composition of the universe and who now serves as the president of the Simons Foundation, with a Doctor of Science Honoris Causa degree in recognition of his innovative research and extraordinary contributions to science, education and society.
“We graduate our scientists and science teachers at a unique and unprecedented moment for science and education into a world that needs them urgently,” said President of the American Museum of Natural History Ellen V. Futter, “Though we are emerging from the pandemic, we continue to see distrust of science and the distortion and misuse of science for political and non-scientific ends. This Museum, its work and mission, and the Richard Gilder Graduate School stand as essential antidotes for these conditions.”
Prior to President of the Simons Foundation and as director emeritus at its Flatiron Institute, Spergel held a faculty appointment at Princeton University for more than 30 years, where he chaired the department of astrophysics.
He also served as a member of the NASA Advisory Council and as chair of the National Academy of Sciences’ Space Studies Board, sharing his expertise with Congress and other policymakers.
Spergel has earned numerous honors including the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal, and a MacArthur Fellowship. Spergel is a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Physical Society, an honorary member of the National Society of Black Physicists, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
“David Spergel is not only an accomplished scientist, he meaningfully cares about the plight of other scientists and their institutions — a rare combination of brilliance and leadership that sets him apart from all others in my field,“ said Neil deGrasse Tyson, the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium.
A commitment to public education and academic training has been an essential part of the Museum’s mission for more than a century, and the Museum continues to offer a broad range of learning opportunities. For more information on the graduation and other programming, see www.amnh.org.
About
Founded in 1869, the American Museum of Natural History is one of the world’s preeminent scientific, educational, and cultural institutions. The Museum encompasses more than 40 permanent exhibition halls, including the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems Minerals which opened in 2021, and those in the Rose Center for Earth and Space and the Hayden Planetarium, as well as galleries for temporary exhibitions. The Museum’s scientists draw on a world-class permanent collection of more than 34 million specimens and artifacts, some of which are billions of years old, and on one of the largest natural history libraries in the world. The Museum’s website, digital videos, and apps for mobile devices bring its collections, exhibitions, and educational programs to millions around the world.