I have always considered myself to be an organismal biologist, and for many years I had little interest in cells or molecules but all of that changed in the summer of 1992. That was the summer that I was fortunate enough to work with Rob DeSalle in the molecular systematics lab at the American Museum of Natural History. That summer Rob showed me that DNA molecules contain an incredibly detailed record of the history life on Earth. We can use molecules to understand evolutionary relationships, how species migrate through their habitats and how allele frequencies change within populations over time. Once I recognized what a rich source of data DNA sequences provide I was hooked and I decided to concentrate my graduate studies in this field.  After being accepted to Yale I returned to the Museum to continue my graduate studies with Rob as my advisor. My thesis work was a detailed phylogenetic study of the spectacular radiation of Drosophila in the Hawaiian Islands. While I was in graduate school I found that I particularly enjoyed teaching and after I finished my Ph.D. I was offered a position in the Department of Education at the Museum. My job was to design and teach programs in the Genomic Learning Laboratory, a state of the art molecular biology lab located in the Museum’s Genomic Revolution exhibit.  Here I taught the same techniques that I learned from Rob to a diverse audience ranging from New York City High School students, to attorneys, bankers and members of the general public.  This experience taught me two things. The first was that almost everyone is interested in learning more about genomic science and how it will affect their lives in the new century. The second was that the source of information most people rely upon is science fiction. When I was able to separate the facts from the fiction for the students and help them realize that reality is more wonderful than anything that Hollywood can concoct I felt that I had done my job.   I am looking forward very much to working with the members of this summer’s institute to help to find new ways to bring a greater understanding of genomic science to students across the country.
                                                                                     

AMNH
New York, NY

Australian born new media artist, Justine Cooper, makes art that intersects science. She recently showed a large video installation in an exhibition titled How Human: Life in the Post Genome Era at the International Center of Photography in New York. Her work has been exhibited in over 40 shows across 5 continents. She bases her methods on medical and scientific technologies. Last year she was artist-in-residence at The American Museum of Natural History, and worked with Dr. Jim Bonacum on an art project, while also designing the Genomic Learning Lab website.
Justine has taught Multimedia Design and Netcultures at the University of Technology and the University of Sydney. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Electronic and Time Based Art. Her studio is in Brooklyn, NY. http://justinecooper.com  

Media Artist / Web Designer
Brooklyn, NY

Rob DeSalle, curator in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology and co-director of its molecular laboratories, has a definite knack for collaboration. Something about him seems to make brilliant people want to work with him. Perhaps it is his casual, open manner; or his boundless curiosity; or his evident enthusiasm and respect for the ideas of others. Perhaps it is his willingness to offer the use of his lab, which contains tremendously expensive machinery that can sequence the DNA of hundreds of organisms in a single day. Or perhaps it is simply the quality of his own research that invites collaboration. At any rate, if you've got an exciting hypothesis about biodiversity and need some DNA sequenced to test it, Rob is your man.

Rob's website:
http://www.amnh.org/learn/pd/genetics/profiles/rdesalle.html
 

AMNH
New York, NY

Eugene McNicholas, currently teaching Biology I and Biology I Honors at Kittatinny Regional High School in rural Sussex County New Jersey. He became involved with the Woodrow Wilson Institute as a participant in the summer of 1998. Since then he has helped to evaluate grant applications as well as conduct a TORCH institute. He has a genuine interest in helping teachers to become the best that they can be, this in turn allows him to positively impact the education of many students. He has been involved in the design and execution of many teacher workshops, most recently the Rutgers University New Science Teachers Institute. One of the highlights of his working in the area of teacher training was in working with a group of educators and administrators from the former Soviet Union, to show how local resources can be used as an enhancement to the educational process.

Gene's educational contributions have been recognized in many ways including: Grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and NJBISEC, the Governors award as teacher of the year, Who's Who Among American Teachers and most recently by being elected as President of The New Jersey Science Teachers association.

Gene has been married for six years and has a daughter who is five years old. He enjoys many activities including, fine dining, hiking, and listening to music, especially Bruce Springsteen.
 

Kittatinny Regional H.S.
Newton, NJ

Tom Ritter has had a full career in public secondary school teaching as a science teacher and department supervisor.  Although his content specialty is physics, he has taught a multitude of science courses in grades seven through twelve.  Most recently he has joined the faculty of The Lawrenceville School where his responsibilities are on staff development. The focus of his work is to create and develop teams of science and math teachers to build a knowledge base, skill, and practice with the process of Lesson Study. His responsibilities at the institute are to help the participants design ways to implement the science content learned at the institute into their classrooms through developing the practice of lesson study.


 

Lawrenceville School.
Lawrenceville, NJ

Michael J. Lemke’s work in aquatic microbial ecology focuses on bacterial population interactions in freshwater ecosystems. His current research incorporates a traditional ecological approach to investigation with molecular biology techniques that pursue questions about microbial processes in interface habitats (i.e., oxic-anoxic layers). In addition, his students and him examine questions about bacterial and viral populations in streams, nutrient cycling, and decompositional processes in intermittent and floodplain aquatic habitats.



 

University of Illinois at Springfield

Makoto Yoshida is one of the founders and the president of Global Education Resources. He was born in Hiroshima, Japan and now lives in New Jersey. He came to the United States to study at Lewis and Clark College, Portland. Oregon, where he received his B.A. in Education and Psychology. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Eduction from the University of Chicago. His doctoral dissertation research focused on Lesson Study in Japan. Part of his dissertation served as the basis of Chapter 7, Beyond Reform: Japan's Approach to the Improvement of Classroom Teaching, in Stigler and Heibert’s book “The Teaching Gap” (1999), in addition to many other publications. He is currently writing a book on lesson study with Dr. Clea Fernandez, Teachers College, Columbia University, entitled Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning: The Japanese Lesson Study Approach (Working Title).
 

Global Education Resources
Madison, NJ


http://www.globaledresources.com/

My research interests involve Mammalian Systematics, Ancient DNA techniques, Molecular Evolution and Conservation Biology. Systematics plays a key role in understanding biodiversity and addressing the current biodiversity crisis. The use of ancient DNA technology can make representatives from species and populations that are no longer present in former localities (or have gone extinct) accessible for inclusion in comparative studies. These representatives can provide a temporal component for interpreting present-day genetic diversity.




 

AMNH
New York, NY