Pat Abbott, Ph.D., is a native San Diegan who earned his doctorate degree in geology from the University of Texas at Austin. Abbott is a Professor Emeritus of Geology at San Diego State University and is the author of the widely used textbook Natural Disasters published by McGraw-Hill. His book The Rise and Fall of San Diego describes the geologic history of San Diego. Pat also is the producer and narrator for the developing TV series Written in Stone.

Don Albright, retired high school geography teacher and former State of California geologist, has been trekking Baja California and the Southwest for 45 years.

Leslie Barnes is the Compost Program Coordinator at the Solana Center for Environmental Innovation, a nonprofit organization offering environmental education throughout San Diego County. Barnes coordinates the Master Composter Volunteer Program, providing compost education to adults and children through events, workshops, school presentations, and compost demonstration sites. Leslie holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and has been involved with nonprofit organizations for over seven years.

Jim Berrian, zoologist and teacher, has been associated with the Museum since 1976. His career has included research in herpetology, entomology, arachnology, and teaching high school biology.

Frank Canziani has worked as a photographic assistant, operated his own photographic business, and been both an advisor to professional photographic organizations and a guest lecturer at numerous schools. Canziani has worked in the photographic business for almost 30 years and has been published in several national publications. Currently, he teaches digital photography classes for Nelson Photo Supplies. He has traveled worldwide.

Aenne Carver is a certified master gardener and lectures county wide on gardening and herb use. She is a docent at the Carlsbad Flower Fields and is an accomplished floral designer. Carver writes a weekly garden column for Today's Local News. She teaches elementary and junior high school workshops and is an Elderhostel teacher.

Cindy Christ is a San Diego native, naturalist, and educator. She is also an herbalist, master soapmaker, and owner of Following Seasons Botanicals where she specializes in handmade herbal soap, organic herbs, aromatherapy and botanical traditions. Cindy has been involved with herbs for health and pleasure the majority of her life, and has been making handmade soap for more than 15 years. She is an instructor at the San Diego Natural History Museum, and an active member of the Handcrafted Soapmakers Guild, The Herb Society of America, International Herb Association, American Botanical Council, and The San Diego Herb Club.

Tom Deméré, Ph.D., as Curator of Paleontology, has occupied the Joshua L. Bailey, Jr. Chair of Paleontology at the Museum since 1994. Before that he served as Collection Manager in the department. Tom's research focuses on the evolutionary history and paleobiology of pinnipeds and cetaceans. He is also keenly interested in the geology and paleontology of southern California and Baja California and has published numerous scientific and popular articles on these subjects. Tom also serves as Director of the Department of Paleontological Services, a consulting arm of the BRCC that provides paleontological resource (i.e., fossils) assessment and impact mitigation services to public and private developers. This work has been responsible for the discovery, salvage, and conservation of thousands of significant fossils from construction sites in San Diego, Orange, and Riverside counties.

Estelle Dunst is a native San Diegan. After retiring from a successful first career, Dunst enrolled into a gourmet cooking class and was introduced into the world of chocolate. Chocolate quickly became her second profession, and she has been making edible art for over 20 years. Dunst has traveled to Chicago to work with Chocolatier Elaine Gonzales, traveled to Italy, New York, San Francisco, and New Jersey to further her knowledge on chocolate. She has demonstrated edible chocolate art at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom’s, The Country Music Hall of Fame, for the FBI convention held in San Diego, on cruise ships, and for many other large corporations.

Steve Fambro is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Aptera Motors, an electric and hybrid vehicle manufacturer based in Vista. He began working on cars well before he was ever able to drive. Today, his childhood hobby is a full-fledged business, with Aptera’s first vehicle, the 2e (two-seat, all-electric), set to debut later in 2009.

Utilizing a blend of aerodynamics and composite aircraft construction, Fambro’s former garage start-up has produced a low-drag, uniquely shaped, three-wheel vehicle that has already been featured in USA Today, National Geographic, and the New York Times, as well as on 60 Minutes and Good Morning America. Aptera has grown into a company with over 70 employees and has raised three rounds of funding from outside investors. The 2e will hit the market with the promise of getting the equivalent of well over 100 miles per gallon at a price most American consumers can rationalize into their personal budgets.

Anne S. Fege, Ph.D., a Botany Research Associate at the Museum, and co-owner of Business and Ecology Consulting in El Cajon. She served as Forest Supervisor of the Cleveland National Forest from 1991–2004, where she was responsible for managing 450,000 acres in Orange, Riverside, and San Diego counties for watershed values, habitat for native plants and animals, recreation and other uses, wildland fire management, and open space. Fege is widely known as a co-founder of the San Diego Partners for Biodiversity and San Diego Fire Recovery Network, and co-curator of the recent Earth, Wind & WILDFIRE exhibition at the Museum.

Shelley Halpain received her B.S. in Biological Sciences at The University of California Irvine, and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the Rockefeller University in New York City. Her postdoctoral training was under Professor Paul Greengard, a 2001 Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine. Dr. Halpain was on the faculty at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center 1992–1996, then at The Scripps Research Institute 1996–2007. She joined the Division of Biology at UCSD in 2007. Halpain served as Council Delegate for the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Section on Neuroscience, from 1998–2000. She is a member of national and international scientific review panels and a frequent contributor of reviews and commentary for international science journals. Halpain’s research appears in top scientific publications and has been featured in National Geographic magazine.

Mary Ann Hawke holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Plant Sciences and Bachelor’s degrees in Ecology and Evolution, and Environmental Education. She has 15 years of experience in project management and environmental consulting. Trained as a plant ecologist, her interests include arid-land ecology, soil/microbe/plant interactions, and assessing ecological health in arid environments. She is the Director of San Diego County Plant Atlas project at the Museum.

Bradford Hollingsworth, Ph.D., is the Museum's curator of herpetology. Hollingsworth serves on the editorial board of Herpetological Natural History and is an associate editor for Herpetological Review. His interests include the evolution and biogeography of the herpetofauna of Baja California.

Marie Humphrey has been kayaking for more than 12 years leading local kayak nature tours and multi-day kayak camping trips. She is a certified kayak instructor with the American Canoe Association and is certified in Advanced Wilderness First Aid. In 2002, she left the corporate world behind to start her business, Family Kayak Adventure Center. Humphrey enjoys sharing with people of all ages the excitement of exploring nature by kayak. A native San Diegan, Humphrey brings her knowledge of birds, marine mammals, and local history to all of her kayaking tours.

Fred Krupp has overseen the growth of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) from a small nonprofit into a recognized worldwide leader in the environmental movement. Krupp is widely recognized as the foremost champion of harnessing market forces for environmental ends.

He has broken new ground with strategic corporate partnerships, and helped launch the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, whose Fortune 500 members have called for strict limits on global warming pollution. EDF accepts no payments or contributions from its partners.The New York Times says, “Krupp has made a career of successfully pushing companies to make tough environmental changes.”

Krupp is coauthor with Miriam Horn of the New York Times Bestseller, Earth: The Sequel—The Race to Reinvent Energy and Stop Global Warming. Educated at Yale and the University of Michigan Law School, Krupp was among 16 people named as America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report in 2007.

Paul Maschka is a compassionate naturalist. He also writes, lectures, and teaches courses on a number of environmental topics. Paul is a lead gardener in the Horticulture Department at the San Diego Zoo and has been with the San Diego Zoological Society for the past 13 years. Paul has been recognized by The Royal Horticultural Society and awarded The Royal Horticulture Society Award for his natural landscape designs. His interests include bio-intensive gardening, alternative energy studies, sustainable landscaping, mycology, beekeeping, and permaculture.

Bob Miller is an Imperial Valley native who enjoys exploring all aspects of the southwest desert. His interest in birding and desire to share his knowledge of the region have made him one of the Valley's best-known birders.

Esther Mitrani was born in Ensenada, Baja California. She graduated with a degree in psychology at the Universidas Autónoma de Baja California, then worked in a professional employer organization in San Francisco. She has worked as a tour guide for over five years and joined Andiamo in 2002. Esther is an eager traveler and loves sports and languages.

Maria Mitrani lives in Ensenada, Baja California, and since 1985 has conducted specialized tours of Baja California. Mitrani has a B.A. in Italian and art history from the University of California at Berkeley.

Barbara Moore is co-author of Walking San Diego and Vice President of San Diego Audubon Society. She has been teaching birding classes for over 25 years.

Kevin Petti, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Natural Sciences and chair of the Department of Health and Exercise Science at San Diego Miramar College. He teaches courses in human anatomy and physiology, human dissection, kinesiology, and health science. Petti is active in the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society (HAPS) having been recently voted president-elect, and also served as coordinator for the 21st annual HAPS conference that was hosted by Miramar College in the spring of 2007.

Having a keen interest in the history of science, Petti has lectured at several HAPS conferences, and as an invited general session speaker at the 2001 and 2003 National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) conventions in Montreal, Canada, and Portland, OR. He has also been invited to give this presentation at Penn State, York College (PA), Bronx Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College (NY), and the University of Tulsa.

Petti is the contributing author to the 9th edition of Tortora’s Principles of Human Anatomy, has authored an anatomy and physiology student study guide, and co-authored peer- reviewed research articles relating to health, human behavior, and sport biomechanics.

Petti holds a bachelor’s degree from Humboldt State University, a master’s degree from San Diego State University, and a doctorate from the University of San Diego. Petti is devoted to staying physically active. He regularly exercises, has completed more than ten triathlons and has rock climbed the 2000’ Northwest Face of Yosemite’s Half Dome. Petti is married and has two children.

Nuri Pierce is a Research Associate in the lab of botanist Dr. Michael Simpson at San Diego State University. Her research focus includes the taxonomy of Chenopodium in the family Amaranthaceae and pollen morphology of the genus Conostylis of the family Haemodoraceae.

Elizabeth Podsiadlo, has been a personal chef and cooking instructor in San Diego for ten years. She has studied opera since here twenties and performs as a vocalist regularly downtown in different hotels and restaurants. When you attend one of her cooking classes you will not only get a sample of her delicious food, you will also get a sample aria or two and an intimate look into the world of this passionate artist.

Kesler Randall has a M.A. in geology with a focus in vertebrate paleontology from San Diego State University. Randall works in the Department of Paleontology as Collection Manager for Fossil Vertebrate. Randall also does research on Pleistocene (ice age) fossils. He has been working at the Museum for the past seven years.

Jon Rebman, Ph.D., has concentrated on building research ties between the Museum and scientific institutions in Baja California and Baja California Sur since 1996, when he became Curator of Botany at the Museum. He organized the Second Baja California Botanical Symposium shortly after his arrival, and the following year, the Lindblad Binational Multidisciplinary Expedition to the Sierra San Francisco and the Sierra Guadalupe. While living in Ensenada under a Fulbright Fellowship, as part of his doctoral research at Arizona State University, Rebman conducted extensive fieldwork on the systematics of the chollas of Baja California (both states). During his time in Mexico, he became fascinated by the varied and often bizarre flora of the peninsula, an interest which continues as a focus of his research. His primary research interest is the systematics of the Cactus family. Rebman has continued his work in the genus Opuntia, now tackling the prickly-pear cacti.

Fred Roberts has worked previously as the assistant curator at the Museum of Systematic Biology at University of California, Irvine, and as a botanist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He is currently working as an independent botanist conducting rare plant surveys in Orange, San Diego, and Riverside Counties. In addition to being a botanical illustrator and painting water colors, he has published several books including An Illustrated Guide to the Oaks of the Southern Californian Floristic Province, Plants of Orange County (an illustrated checklist), and co-authored Plants of western Riverside County (an annotated checklist). His current projects include an illustrated guide to the lilies of southern California and Baja California, and rare plants of western San Diego County.

Jim Rocks, M.S. Biological Sciences, has 10 years of experience in California, primarily exploring and documenting the flora and fauna of southern California in San Diego County. Rocks works primarily as an independent biological consultant and is a museum Research Associate in the Botany Department. Rocks is an active contributor to the San Diego County Plant Atlas and other Museum research efforts.

Phillip C. Roullard has been a professional photographer since graduating from Brooks Institute in 1993, with a B.A. in photography. Roullard’s background as a park ranger and naturalist contributes greatly to his understanding of the outdoor subjects he enjoys photographing. Roullard has taught photo clinics and led workshops for Adventure-16, a San Diego outdoor recreation store. He also teaches photo business classes for San Diego State University Extension. His photographs have been used extensively in exhibits, publications and websites for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Tijuana Estuary National Estuarine Research Reserve. His photographs have appeared in National Audubon Field Guides, National Geographic books, National Wildlife, Ranger Rick and My Big Back Yard, Canadian Garden, and American Home and Gardening.

Michael Simpson, Ph.D. is a professor at San Diego State University, where he teaches Economic Botany, Taxonomy of California Plants, and Plant Systematics. His and his student's research focus on phylogenetic relationships, species and infraspecies taxonomy, and floristics. He is a co-author (with Dr. Jon Rebman) on Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Diego County and has written a new college textbook, Plant Systematics.

Neil Solomon was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He is a long time San Diego resident whose passionate interest in bird photography has become an equally passionate interest in introducing bird photography to others. To this end, Solomon has presented slide shows of his images to the San Diego Field Ornithologists, the Photonaturalist Photo Club of San Diego, the North County Photographic Society, the Sierra Club and the Rancho la Puerta Resort in Tecate, Mexico. In 2007, Solomon will lead bird-photography workshops at the Museum as well as at the Rancho la Puerta Resort. View his images on his website www.nsolomonphoto.com.

Larry Stein is a professional printer and photographer. Owner of Warp-9 Imaging, in El Cajon, Stein creates fine-art prints for artists, photographers, and himself. He offers personalized training for photography and “Photoshop for Photographers.” He specializes in art and landscape photography utilizing digital and film, DSLR to view camera.

Margie Stinson has a master's degree in biology, and is well-known as the Museum's whale watching excursion naturalist. She continues to study Baja California and its coastal islands wildlife. Currently, Stinson is writing a book on Baja California's natural history.

Jim Stone is the Museum’s Vice President of Public Programs; he is the senior executive responsible for Museum exhibitions, education programs, volunteers, marketing and the website. Previously the Director of Education, he brings experienced leadership to the position. Stone served as Vice President of Programs and Director of Exhibitions at Mystic Aquarium in Mystic, Connecticut. He frequently leads ecotourism expeditions, and has been to Ecuador, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Culebra Island, Puerto Rico, Sea of Cortés, Galapagos Islands, Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. He has a special interest in marine mammals and environmental stewardship. He holds a BS in Biology from Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), a Rhode Island Teaching Certificate for Secondary Level Biological Sciences, and is currently studying nonprofit management at the University of San Diego’s School of Leadership and Education Sciences.

Patricia Smith Churchland is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego, and an adjunct Professor at the Salk Institute. Her research focuses on the interface between neuroscience and philosophy. She explores the impact of scientific developments on our understanding of consciousness, the self, free will, decision making, ethics, learning, and religion. She is author of the groundbreaking book, Neurophilosophy (MIT Press 1986) and Brain-Wise: Neurophilosophical Studies (MIT Press 2002), co-author with T. J. Sejnowski of The Computational Brain (MIT 1992), co-author with Paul Churchland of On The Contrary (MIT 1998). She has been president of the American Philosophical Association (Pacific Division) and the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, and won a MacArthur Prize in 1991. An extended interview can be found on The Science Network: www.tsn.org.

Nan Sterman is an award-winning garden communicator, horticulturist, garden designer, and gardening coach who lives in Encinitas, California. Sterman writes about beautiful and unique gardens. Her expertise includes drought tolerant plants for California’s Mediterranean climate, sustainable gardening, low water landscape design, edible gardening, and general gardening knowledge. Nan contributes to regional and national publications such as the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Sunset, Organic Gardening, and Better Homes and Gardens. In the 1990s, she was garden editor for San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine.

Roy Toft is an accomplished conservation photographer dedicated to documenting our natural world for future generations. With a background in wildlife and conservation biology, Toft chooses to focus solely on wild images that convey a sense of the animal’s character and spirit. His images have been featured in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Audubon, Wildlife Conservation, Discover magazines, and other notable publications to advance conservation efforts globally. As a result, he has been named a founding fellow of the prestigious International League of Conservation Photographers. Toft’s striking wildlife images are also available worldwide through the National Geographic Image Collection and Getty Images. Roy shares his love for teaching and photography by regularly instructing photographic classes, tour groups and workshops in the field. Toft’s popular Rainforests of Costa Rica workshop was recently filmed for television. The show, Fine Living Network’s Fantasy Camp, has appeared on television and airline flights. His home office is in the scenic mountainous region of San Diego’s beautiful North County.

Bill Toone has an M.S. Degree in Avian Sciences from the University of California, Davis, where he studied the reproductive biology of the California condor. Following graduate school Toone pursued his interest in the California condor and was ultimately assigned to the federally appointed California Condor Recovery Team. Toone played a high profile role in establishing recovery strategies, collecting eggs in the field and rearing condors in captivity.

Since then his conservation work has carried him to all corners of the planet including Antarctica. His background includes National Park work in Madagascar, sustainable development programs in Costa Rica, old growth logging studies in Papua New Guinea, recovery of giant peccary in Paraguay, sustainable management practices in Argentina, Uganda, and Kenya.

While working in Developing countries Toone re-discovered many secrets to sustainable living that our culture lost during the Industrial Revolution—easy steps to make significant changes. Worried by the apparent disconnect between quality of life for people and the health of their natural resources, Toone worked with Eric Hallstein to establish the ECO-LIFE Foundation to help fill this important and neglected niche.

A popular and sought after conservation speaker, Toone enjoys weaving travel, adventure, and excitement into lively stories with a message.

Scott Tremor received a B.S. in biology and is the Museum’s field associate mammalogist. He has developed mammal-identification keys and is experienced with live-mammal trapping throughout southern California and Baja California. Tremor is a co-investigator for the San Diego County Mammal Atlas project, and since 2000, he has conducted mammal surveys throughout San Diego County for the project. He serves as the primary field coordinator for the project and will help produce the Atlas, which is intended to become the definitive reference on mammals in this hotspot of biological diversity. The Mammal Atlas team has now grown to over 25 contributors.

Phil Unitt, has served as Collection Manager for the Department of Birds and Mammals since 1988 and as Curator since 2004. His interests include the distribution, status, identification, subspecies, and conservation of the birds of California and Baja California. The Willow Flycatcher has been a species of long-term special focus; Unitt wrote the seminal paper outlining the range, status, ecology, and history of the endangered southwestern subspecies Empidonax traillii extimus in 1986 and organized a workshop on the bird in 1995. He has investigated the taxonomy of the Marsh Wren and Brown Creeper, describing one new subspecies of each. Long interested in Imperial County, he is a co-author of Birds of the Salton Sea. From 1997 to 2004 he managed the San Diego bird atlas project, managing over 300 volunteers, and amassing a database of nearly 400,000 records. The atlas, summarizing the results of this study and presenting the geographic, ecologic, and seasonal distribution of all birds known from San Diego County, was published in 2004. Unitt's current primary study, with the help of 38 volunteers covering 47 survey routes, addresses the effects on birds of the firestorms that burned nearly 20% of San Diego County in 2002 and 2003.

Michael Wall, Ph.D., became interested in the ecological relationships between plants and insects while working on both a B.S. and M.S. in botany at Auburn University. This interest ultimately resulted in the discovery of an insect species that was new to science and Wall's induction into the world of insect taxonomy and systematics. After completing his Ph.D. in Entomology at the University of Connecticut in 2004, Wall received a postdoctoral fellowship to study at the Australian Museum in Sydney. He joined the San Diego Natural History Museum as Curator of Entomology in January 2006.

Ken Weaver is a high school biology teacher in Temecula, California. He is a past president of the Palomar Audubon society and served on the advisory committee for the San Diego County Bird Atlas Project. He is familiar with many of the excellent birding spots in northern San Diego and southern Riverside counties.

Dave Wyman has conducted photography workshops and family camping trips since 1983. He founded the travel photography program and directed the wilderness outings program at the University of Southern California for 14 years. Wyman is the author and photographer of the guidebook, Backroads of Northern California.

Herb Young became interested in birds soon after he moved to San Diego in 1962. Except for a brief period, he has been a member of San Diego Field Ornithologists and San Diego Audubon Society since 1972. About 1985, he became interested in gulls when he discovered that they usually stand still while you study them rather than disappear into foliage or simply fly off.

David Woodruff is a professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego. He is interested in phylogeography and conservation genetics—the role of population genetics and ecology in determining the past and future evolution of animal species. Most of his attention is now devoted to helping biologists meet their greatest challenge: ensuring the future evolution of animal species. He received his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and from 1969–74 was at Harvard University where he was a Frank Knox Fellow and an Alexander Agassiz Lecturer on Biogeography. He served as the founding Chair of the Ecology, Behavior and Evolution Section at UC San Diego, and is currently a Trustee of the Zoological Society of San Diego. Woodruff also fosters research and conservation at the San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Center for the Reproduction of Endangered Species.

James Nieh is an associate professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego. He is interested in the evolution of multimodal communication in social bees and is currently studying how olfactory eavesdropping may have influenced different food location communication strategies in stingless bees. A second focus is on olfactory, tactile, acoustic, and thermal signals or cues involved in foraging and food-alertment or recruitment in the social bees. The goal is to develop a greater understanding of potentially homologous or convergent communication signals within the social bees through studies mapping communication traits onto social bee phylogenies. He received his BA from Harvard in 1991 and his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1997. He completed a NSF-NATO postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and was a Harvard Junior Fellow from 1998–2000.

Therese Markow is an evolutionary biologist who studies speciation and adaptation to novel environments. Her research primarily utilizes Drosophila, especially the species endemic to the Sonoran Desert that breeds in decaying cactus. By living in the harsh desert, in plants that contain toxic chemicals, this group of flies provides an outstanding opportunity to study the process of evolution. She also investigates genetics and ecology of other insects in the Sonoran Desert, especially those that share the cacti with Drosophila and others that vector infectious disease. She earned her Ph.D. in zoology (genetics) as well as her B.S. in physical anthropology at Arizona State University and currently holds the Amylin Chair in Life Sciences in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego.

David Holway is an associate professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at UC San Diego where he studies social-insect invasions. By integrating an understanding of ecology, behavior, and genetics and by employing a diversity of experimental approaches, his lab aims to develop a more quantitative understanding of these invasions. They use Argentine ants, red imported fire ants, and western yellowjacket wasps to quantify the factors controlling susceptibility to invasion, to uncover the mechanisms involved in the displacement of native species, and to determine how mutualistic interactions between invaders and other organisms contribute to invasion success. He received his B.A. in zoology from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D in biology from the University of Utah. His postdoctoral research at UC San Diego was supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The San Diego Natural History Museum’s education programs are funded in part by the City of San Diego’s Commission for Arts and Culture and the San Diego County Community Enhancement Program. Proceeds benefit the Museum’s education and research missions.

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