Tidbits

Congratulations!
To Tony Barnosky, on the continued success of his 2009 book, Heatstroke: Nature in an Age of Global Warming, in which Tony explains why today's climate change is different than the climatic fluctuations of the past, and how that will impact ecosystems in new ways.

To Mark Goodwin, whose research on Triceratops was featured on the National Geographic Channel as the video of the week in early October.

To Pat Holroyd whose paper with Mark Clements and Paul Koch — Identifying aquatic habits of herbivorous mammals through stable isotope analysis — was recognized by the editors of Palaios as the Honorable Mention Paper for 2008.

To Kevin Padian, as co-curator of a highly popular exhibit at the Bancroft Library — Darwin and the Evolution of a Theory. The extraordinary exhibit, which closed in December, included rare books and manuscripts, as well as numerous specimens from UCMP and the other Berkeley Natural History Museums. See photos of Kevin and the exhibit on Flickr.

To Judy Scotchmoor, who was named an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow. Judy was recognized "for leadership in defending teaching of evolution and quality science education through nationally recognized websites on these issues and through leadership of the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science." Read more about it on the UCMP blog.

To Tim White and Leslea Hlusko and a team of international researchers as the discovery and description of Ardi — Ardipithecus ramidus — was named as Science magazine's Breakthrough of the Year.

Welcome to new faces!
UCMP welcomes two new postdocs, Nathalie Nagalingum and Tiago Quental, who join us from Harvard University and will be working with Charles Marshall.

Congratulations to our new PhDs!
They are Drs. Stephanie Bush, Jann Vendetti, and Michele Weber.

Stephanie will be starting a post-doctoral position in April at the University of Rhode Island with Brad Seibel, looking at the camouflage response of cephalopods with changes in the ambient light.

Jann will be heading to Cal State University to work in the Krug lab on sacoglossans (sea slugs) that have unique developmental characteristics.

And in alumnae news …
Becky Williams was offered a two-year postdoctoral position with Michele Nishiguchi at New Mexico State looking at Vibrio bacteria involved in a squid beneficial symbiosis.

Congratulations to Nick Pyenson and his wife Emily on the birth of their son Anders on Christmas morning!

Randy Irmis and Sterling Nesbitt described a new species of dinosaur, Tawa hallae, in the journal Science. Read more about in on the UCMP blog.

News from the collections
We thank our own Professor Emeritus Zach Arnold for donating the last of his personal collections to the UCMP. Zach received his Ph.D. here in 1949 under micropaleontologist Robert Kleinpell, then joined the faculty for a distinguished career in teaching and pioneering research on the biology of foraminifera and related forms. Ken Finger and Mark Goodwin retrieved the items (which filled an SUV!) from Zach at his home in El Sobrante, just a couple of days before he relocated to Vero Beach, Florida, to be with his daughter. We wish him all the best in the Sunshine State!