Board Members

Adania is an Ichthyologist, science educator and leader who studies the ecology and evolutionary relationships of fishes while looking at using NHMS as a resource to broaden representation in STEM to build inclusive communities. She is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida (UF) department of biology and the Florida Museum. Her Ph.D. research combines her interest in education with Ichthyology, through an interdisciplinary research project evaluating the impact of experiential learning within collections on students' understanding of science, development of science identities and interest in science careers, while testing the species hypothesis. Adania has worked arduously to serve as a role model and create opportunities to inspire others to follow their passions. She has created and curated many spaces within academia. She is the Founder and current President of the BlackInNHMs organization, which was established as a 501C3 nonprofit.

Leanne is an exhibitions officer at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). Prior to this, she was MAT postdoctoral fellow at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and before that the Events and Communications Manager for the Linnean Society of London. Leanne was also a lecturer in Marine Paleontology at the University of Bristol where she also earned a M.Sc. in chemistry followed by a Ph.D. in Geology. Her research uses museum collections to focus on the impacts of environmental change on growth within marine organisms and how this affects ecosystem function. She is passionate about research and science communication. In 2019, Leanne was awarded the Linnean Society Irene Manton prize for best PhD thesis in Botany and was also recognized as one of the University of Bristol's inspirational scientists for her contributions to science and DEI work.

JC is an evolutionary zoologist, assistant professor, and principal investigator for the IDER lab in the department of biology at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). She is also a research associate at the National Museum of Natural Science. Her research focuses on phylogenomics, molecular evolution and trait diversification in vertebrates. JC received her B.S. in Zoology from SUNY Oswego and Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UCLA. She completed her NSF PRFB at Iowa State University followed by a postdoctoral position at LSU Museum of Natural Science. JC is devoted to creating inclusive spaces in academia to welcome curious scientists of all backgrounds to pursue their passions. In that capacity, she serves on the council for the Society of Systematic Biologists and as the faculty co-advisor for the UTA SACNAS chapter, with the hope of improving the experiences of underrepresented scientists, celebrating their contributions, and facilitating their collaborations.

Hank is a Professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University . He is also the director of the Tulane Biodiversity Research Institute and curator of the Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection . His research includes interests taxonomic diversity, ecological diversity, and diversity of environmental adaptation. Most of my work involves freshwater fishes - especially darters (Percidae: Etheostomatinae), suckers (Catostomidae) and minnows (Cyprinidae, mostly in Africa) Hank earned a B.S. and M.Sc. in biology from the University of New Orleans followed by a Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Oklahoma. He then served as a visiting professor and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois. Currently, Hank is apart of co-investigators to establish the field of imageomics, using machine learning methods to study biological traits of organisms from images .

Nicole Fuller serves as co-treasurer. Nicole is a zooarchaeologist and the Collections Manager for the Environmental Archaeology Program at the Florida Museum. She has worked at the museum in various positions for the past 18 years, having started as an intern and then a faunal analyst. Nicole earned her B.S. and M.A. in anthropology from UF. Her work focuses on the zooarchaeology of two Late Archaic Period shell ring sites on St. Catherines Island, Georgia to understand formation processes and site use. This research involves the application of sclerochronological techniques to document the periodicity of shell formation in modern specimens of the eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) to establish a proxy for seasonal use of oysters at the two sites. Nicole enjoys participating in outreach activities that introduce the importance of archaeology and the confluence of biological and cultural heritage to new audiences.

Jessica is an Associate Curator of Invertebrate Zoology, Principal Investigator for the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics and Associate Professor in the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the AMNH. Her research focuses on the evolution of behavioral and physiological adaptations in insects, with an emphasis on how these occur in Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) and Dictyoptera (termites, cockroaches, and mantises). She earned her B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia and her Ph.D. from Rutgers, New Brunswick. She was an NSF postdoctoral fellow at the AMNH before serving as an Assistant, then Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Rutgers, Newark. Jessica is passionate about DEI, and has started several initiatives such as Entomologists of Color and, while at Rutgers, a campus-wide LGBTQAI+ & STEM group for which she won a faculty diversity award.

Brianna Mims serves as co-secretary and sometimes aids in social media posts for BlackInNHMs. Brianna is a herpetologist and Ph.D. student in the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History where she is an NSF GRFP fellow. She earned her B.S. and M.Sc. degrees in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Cornell University and the University of Michigan, respectively. She also gained experience as a technician with the New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Her main research interests involve using CT scans of museum specimens to study comparative ecomorphology of snakes. Previously she has looked at snake brain regions, and currently she is looking at genomics and morphological evolution of arboreal Neotropical snakes. Brianna is also interested in leveraging digitization to make museums and science more accessible.

Understanding the uneven distribution of species across space is a key goal of evolutionary biology and macroecology. Today’s hotspots are a snapshot of current conditions, and understanding their origin requires a perspective that reaches back in time.For instance, in the modern marine realm, the Indo-West Pacific is a biodiversity hotspot for many groups, including corals, bivalves, and fishes. Modern fish diversity in the IWP is well known, but there is a substantial gap in our understanding of its ancient history. Evidence from invertebrates suggests that 20 million years ago (Ma) the IWP hotspot migrated from a region between southern Europe and north Africa, known as the West Tethys sea, to its present position. My research project integrates fossil, morphological, and molecular data to test if the hotspot for marine fish diversity occupied the West Tethys. between the Paleocene to early Oligocene (66-33 Ma) and migrated to its current location in the IWP by the early Miocene