Adriana Aquino -- born in Buenos Aires, Argentina -- is an ichthyologist specialized in Systematics of Neotropical fishes. She earned a PhD in 1994, coming to New York with a Postodoctoral Fellowship of the American Museum of Natural History to work on a group of catfishes. In 1999, she was invited to collaborate in the development of one of the content-based on-line courses of "Seminars on Sciences", a project from the National Center for Science Literacy, Education, and Technology of the AMNH. Now, she is working as a full-time Content/Curriculum Specialist for the Professional Development Programs of the Dept. of Education at the AMNH, having as commitment to connect scientists and their research at the museum with science teachers.

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William Schiller --  speaks for the wild flowers, trees, and other plants at the American Museum of Natural History.

A native New Yorker, he had biophilia at a young age and apparently never got over it. His earliest childhood memories include numerous visits to the Museum, the New York Botanical Garden, city parks, and libraries. These experiences undoubtedly had a formative impact. After graduating cum laude from City College with a major in biology, he took the position of Lecturer in Botany in the newly formed Adult Education Division.

He was immediately drawn into the AMNH/CCNY College Courses for Teachers program, and into formulating and implementing innovative programs that included adult outdoor education in botany, collaborating with the lecturers in zoology and geology on this. Gallery talk, slide talk, and guest lecturer programs in botany were set up. Accessible, tour quality natural areas with desirable facilities (a rare combination) were continuously sought out and complex itineraries plotted. A botanical color slide collection was established, and the herbarium improved. Much field work with this focus ensued both locally and throughout North America.

The popular Spring and Fall Field Walks in Botany quickly emerged alongside Farida Wiley's Natural Science for the Layman field trips and eventually continued alone. William Schiller also assisted in setting up the itinerary for the first Natural Science Weekend Bus Trip, and was co-leader. This was followed by participation as botanist in a series of new week-long Museum bus tours to selected natural areas in the Northeast. He also initiated and participated in Museum-funded Alaskan field work, some of which helped in setting up the first Discovery Tours.

An aim in all this has been to develop programs that might help to raise public science literacy in the area of forests, ecology, plant evolution and biodiversity, to build in the context of shared enjoyable experiences an appreciation of how nature works, and a sense of responsible stewardship. For many years William Schiller felt rather alone in some of this, so it is satisfying to now have strong affirmation in the underlying messages of the new halls and centers. In-house, past field work continues to inform and inspire the on going educational effort.

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Dr. Maritza B.  Macdonald -- is a teacher and a teacher educator.  As the Museum’s Director of Professional Development, Maritza focuses on the development of programs and partnerships with schools and universities for the purpose of using Museum resources and expertise in the formal preparation, certification, and daily support of teachers.

Maritza brings to the Museum setting a vast teaching and curriculum design experience. She has taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels in South America and the United States. In the 1980’s she was the program director and curriculum instructor in the Pre-service Teacher Education Program at Bank Street College of Education. In the nineties she was a senior researcher at (NCREST) The National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her research focused on the study of exemplary teacher education programs and on the pedagogical approaches of learning-centered schools in urban settings.

“In the Museum,” she explains, “I have found the most fantastic classroom I could have ever wished for. Here, I observe children asking questions, I invent ways of providing more access and professional experiences to teachers and college faculty members; and I work closely with scientists to design programs that reflect authentic scientific processes, are rich in content, and interesting to children and adults.”

The Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Institute is one of these professional development programs. For three years, AMNH has collaborated with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and Pace University to provide teachers with a two week immersion experience doing research and designing scientific investigations. Teachers become familiar with the museum, its scientists, its exhibits, and its resources. They develop a plan for using informal science settings such as museums and parks to infuse their study of biodiversity within the context of The Living Environment, the New York State framework for teaching life sciences.