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Students at NHMLAC (and Elsewhere)

Jonathan Sepulveda (2009-2011)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Jonathan is a sophmore studying Biomedical Engineering. When not up in the mountains shredding the slopes (the recent snow reminds him of home in Toronto, Canada), he is enjoying the California sun playing tennis or basketball. He loves working with animals (dead or alive!) and hopes to become a vet someday.

Adam Wall (2008-2011)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Adam is a junior and is currently majoring in Biology as a precursor to graduate work in Medicine. He had his first research experience in high school when he joined NASA’s Micro Robot Explorer Project at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory as an Intern Roboticist. In college, he continued working on the Spiderbot Project as well as other robotic projects as a private contractor for JPL and as a Blue Sky Robotics intern. After transferring to USC, his scientific interests have focused on the biological sciences, and he is enjoying working with Crustacea and MBPC team members to make literature and new collections available to the scientific community.

Andrew Phillips (2011)

Historic Resources Specialist, Fairfax Museum, Virginia

Andrew works in a small history museum in Virginia, preserving artifacts and helping put on public programs. One of his favorite places is the Hall of Dinosaurs at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, another is the High-Water Mark on the Gettysburg battlefield. In college he studied American history and went on to get a Master’s degree in Museum Studies. He enjoyed being able to help with the digitization of the decapods, but his historian side was not a fan of destroying books.

Ekin Dinc (2011)

Smithsonian Institution

After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a History and Religious Studies degrees in 2009 I started volunteering at the Fairfax Museum and Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History. Right now I work as a part time Historic Resources Specialist at the Fairfax Museum. After working on the coral collections in the Invertebrate Zoology department at SI, I'll start working on the Encyclopedia of Life as a contractor this September.

Stephanie Canington (2011)

Auburn University, Alabama

I am a Junior Anthropology student at Auburn University. I spent my summer interning with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s Invertebrate Zoology Department.

Shana Longo (2011)

Kate Feil (2011)

Laura Dietrich (2011)

Cherisse Datu (2011)


Ashley Avery (2008)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Ashley is a second year Biological Sciences major, which has spurred her interest in the Natural History Museum. Ashley is overly fascinated with anything that has to do with science. She plans to gain experience related to biological research and wants to pursue a career in bio-medical research after graduating from USC.

Isaac Ahn (2007-2008)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

A Los Angeles native, Isaac is a sophomore majoring in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies with a pre-pharmacy emphasis. He has been a frequent visitor to the museum and truly appreciates working behind the scenes. When he is not working on the Tree of Life project or studying, Isaac loves to play the violin and watch trashy reality shows.

Christina Chen (2007-2008)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Originally from the Midwest–Troy, Michigan–Christina has immensely enjoyed the changes in weather, environment, and lifestyle that have come with studying at USC. She is a freshman majoring in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and is leaning towards pre-med or occupation therapy, for now. Natural history museums have always given her the chills because of the excitement of connecting with the past and seeing the myriads of organisms out there, so working with Crustacea has been an extremely beneficial experience. On her free time, she enjoys spending time with church members, playing guitar and piano, and eating yummy food.

Anita Rai (2006-2008)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Anita is a junior majoring in biology and Spanish with a pre-med emphasis. While thinking about pursuing a career in medicine, Anita is also a swimmer and water polo player. She loves the beach, surfing, reading, listening to music and, of course, Trojan Football (fight on!). Originally a sophomore transfer from UC Berkeley, Anita is loving life at USC and is having a great time learning about research and science while working at the museum.

Celia Carter (2006-2008)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Celia has always enjoyed going to museums with her family and she is truly enjoying working behind the scenes, learning about different species and all the work that goes into developing exhibits and doing research. The science books about animals are finally becoming understandable and interesting. She is a freshman at the University of Southern California, majoring in Communications. She wants to double major in Film and later, direct/produce music videos or compile movie soundtracks.

Janna Brancolini (2007)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

I am a sophomore double majoring in Health and Humanity and Print Journalism at the University of Southern California. I hope to eventually become a science reporter, and I am especially interested in international health. I was born and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, and I was very excited to trade winter for the ocean when I came to L.A. for college. I am involved with Troy Camp, Habitat for Humanity, and the Daily Trojan student newspaper at USC. “Troy Camp” is an organization that works with kids in the USC neighborhood during the school year and takes them camping in the mountains in May. Little known fact: I love roofing houses, and I will be training to become a Crew Leader with the LA Habitat for Humanity chapter this summer. I've also become a beast with the PhotoShop lasso tool thanks to Dr. Martin's Hawaii crab pictures. My hobbies include martial arts, reading, writing, going to the beach, playing the violin, and photography.

David Luangpraseuth (2006)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

David is a Sophomore majoring in Biological Sciences and minoring in Public, Policy, and Development. In his spare time, he enjoys playing tennis, surfing, swimming, and relaxing on the beach. He has mastered preparing SEM images for publication and is scanning rare books for the Decapod Tree of Life Project. Some of those contributions can be seen at decapoda.nhm.org/references/classics.html. However, after graduating from USC, David plans on attending medical school so that he can become a surgeon. Also, he might be terrified of plastic hands in the Crustacea lab.

Elizabeth M. Liu (2006)

NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates program at NHMLAC
Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles

Elizabeth is a junior majoring in Biology. She enjoys playing tennis, cooking, watching funny movies and going to the beach. Having the opportunity to work in the museum has definitely opened her eyes to the different possibilities out there for those interested in Biology. This experience has definitely intensified her love for biology and made her appreciate all the work that scientists must do. She intends to continue volunteer work in the Crustacea lab and publish her work on dendrobranchiate gills.

Jennifer Zieba (2006)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Jen is a Sophomore majoring in biology and minoring in cinema television. She enjoys SCUBA diving, rock climbing, sailing, camping, reading, and various amounts of nerdy things (i.e., Star Trek and Steve McQueen). Working at the museum has let Jen do some real hands-on work with the specimens she has been studying for so long in school. Jen's favorite specimen is the little alien baby living in the Crustacea collection room.

Jennifer McCard (2006)

University of Southern California, Los Angeles

Jennifer first visited the Natural History Museum on a fieldtrip for her freshman biology class. A few weeks later, she began working in the Research and Collections Department with Regina Wetzer and her isopods. She is currently helping in the molecular lab extracting, amplifying, and sequencing isopod DNA. Jennifer is planning to major in Environmental Studies, and she is glad to be gaining experience in the current scientific arena.

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