Department of Natural History Research Seminar Series

Spring 2026

January 13, 12p.m.: 

McGuire Center “Expanding Horizons in Lepidoptera Research”
Speakers: Dennis Böttger
Institution: Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Title: TBD
Host: Akito Kawahara

Watch recording

January 23, 3p.m.: 

Big Idea Lightning Talks

Speakers: Natural History Faculty
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Dave Blackburn
Speakers:
Jaret Daniels, Curator of Lepidoptera
Glau Del-Rio, Assistant Curator of Ornithology
Nick Gauthier, Assistant Curator of AI & Human Ecology
Gavin Naylor, Director & Curator, Florida Program for Shark Research

Watch Recording

January 30, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: James Mulqueeney 
Title: A Transition to Automated Phenotypic Methods
Institution: Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution
Host: Moritz Lurig

Watch Recording

February 6, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Lauren Applebaum
Title: Understanding Adult and Youth Sense of Belonging in Cultural Institutions
Institution: Research and Evaluation, Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
Host: Megan Ennes

February 13, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Jessie Williamson 
Title: Avian migration, physiology, and speciation at elevational extremes
Institution: Zoology and Physiology, University of Wyoming
Host: Glau Del-Rio

February 20, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Ben Freeman
Title: On range limits and range changes: the “Escalator to Extinction” is in action in tropical mountains
Institution: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology
Host: Scott Robinson

February 27, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Courtney Sprain
Title: Understanding the causes and consequences of the Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction event
Institution: University of Florida
Host: Advait Jukar

March 6, 3p.m.: 

Staff Appreciation Week

Speakers: Natural History Faculty
Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida
Host: Andrea Torvinen

Speakers:
Verity Mathis
Title: Death of a Panther: UF 19077 and her lasting impact
Division: Mammalogy, Collections Manager

Andrei Sourakov
Title: Gynandromorphic Io Moth Born at the Florida Museum of Natural History
Division: Lepidoptera, Collections Manager

Jen Green
Title: The incredible avian from Pineland, southwest Florida
Division: South Florida Archaeology and Ethnography, Collections Manager

Alan Franck
Title: Mary Franics Baker, Florida botanist in the early 1900s
Division: Herbarium, Collections Manager

Andrea Torvinen
Title: Field Lab Photogrammetry for the La Quemada-Malpaso Valley Archaeological Project
Division: Ceramic Technology Lab & Florida Archaeology, Collections Manager

March 27, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Ariel Kahrl
Title: Sperm morphological diversification driven by fertilization environments
Institution: Hamilton College
Host: Dave Blackburn

April 3, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Jason Lee Brown
Title: Hybridization, sexual selection, and ecological divergence drive the rapid diversification of montane poison frogs in Peru
Institution: Southern Illinois University
Host: Aleida Iriarte

April 10, 3p.m.: 

Grad Student Appreciation

Speakers: Natural History Graduate Students

Institution: Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida

Host: Nick Gauthier

Speakers:

April 17, 3p.m.: 

Speaker: Mark Uhen 
Title: The Fossil Record of Whales: An exploration of whale fossil discovery and what we have learned from the record.
Institution: George Mason University
Host: Advait Jukar