with Rayna Bell Ph.D., Assistant Curator of Herpetology, California Academy of Sciences
NEW DATE! Wednesday, November 15th, 2023 – TLHS Innovation Hub – 7:30 – 8:30pm
A Hyperolius molleri frog on São Tomé Island. Photo by Andrew Stanbridge
Dr. Rayna Bell grew up in Marin County and her love of science was nurtured by several wonderful teachers at Drake (now Archie Williams) High School. Rayna attended College of Marin and the University of California, Berkeley where she studied biology and interned at U.C. Berkeley’s Museum of Vertebrate Zoology where she started doing research on Australian frogs and lizards. She received her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University, during which she conducted research on African tree frogs, and joined the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History as Curator of Amphibians and Reptiles. In 2019, Rayna moved back home to the California Academy of Sciences where she is the Associate Curator of Herpetology. Rayna’s research focuses on the ecology, evolution, and conservation of amphibians and reptiles with an emphasis on island biogeography, hybrid zones, and coloration.
with Katherine Montana and Jacob Gorneau of the California Academy of Sciences
Traveling the world through collections: Using museums to understand and conserve arachnids
Wed., February 8, 2023 @ Terra Linda HS’s Innovation Hub, 7:30 – 8:30 pm
Arachnids are an incredibly diverse group of animals found throughout the world, exhibiting adaptations that allow them to thrive in even the most extreme habitats. Spiders, scorpions, mites, ticks, daddy long legs, camel spiders, whip scorpions, and other eight-legged creatures comprise this remarkable group. Our research focuses on collecting arachnids and using existing museum specimens. The Bay Area is home to one of the most extensive arachnid collections, with over 1 million spider specimens at the California Academy of Sciences. From these collections, we can understand how species are related to one another and how to best conserve them.
Kate Montana in the field.
Kate Montana is a graduate student researcher in the arachnology lab at the California Academy of Sciences. She is advised by Dr. Lauren Esposito and is working toward her master’s degree in integrative biology at San Francisco State University. Her research utilizes morphological and molecular data to revise the evolutionary relationships between genera in a group of small brown spiders called the marronoids. Kate also recently worked on a project called the Untold Stories from the Archives in which she and her team used the Academy archives to illuminate the stories of marginalized scientists throughout the history of the Academy. Kate grew up in Folsom, CA and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree in biology and anthropology. Kate considers herself a lifelong learner and wants to do all she can to get to know the natural world and how it operates.
Jacob Gorneau in the field.
Jacob Gorneau is a research assistant in the Entomology department. While he loves anything with an exoskeleton, his research focuses on using museum collections to answer questions about arachnid biodiversity. He recently received his master’s in Biology at San Francisco State University studying the evolutionary history of the marronoid clade – a group of mostly small, brown spiders with little unifying characteristics. Before coming to the California Academy of Sciences for his master’s, he received a bachelor’s in entomology from Cornell University.
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 @ Terra Linda High School’s Innovation Hub, 7:30 – 8:30 pm
with Sarah Jacobs PhD of California Academy of Sciences
Wednesday November 9, 2022; 7:30-8:30pm, Terra Linda HS Innovation Hub
Dr. Jacobs is a curator of Botany at the California Academy of Sciences. She helps manage the herbarium (a museum for plants) and also leads a research lab focused on the evolution of plants, specifically the group of wildflowers called ‘the paintbrushes’. In her talk, Dr. Jacobs will describe what it’s like to be a museum scientist and the educational path she took to get there. Along the way, she’ll tell us about the paintbrushes and their biology, as well as highlighting her favorite parts of the type of work that she does.
Dr. Sarah Jacobs of the CA Academy of Sciences
Dr. Sarah Jacobs received her Bachelor of Science at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, a Master of Science at Washington State University, and her doctorate at the University of Idaho. As the Howell Chair of Western North American Botany, she is particularly focused on guiding and shaping the collection of Western North American plants, ensuring their preservation, growth, and relevance into the future.
