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| Contact | Title | Department | Specialty | Expeditions / Highlights |
| Zeray Alemseged | Curator and Irvine Chair | Anthropology | Early human evolution | Dikika Research Project in Ethiopia. Discovery of the "world's oldest baby" (Australopithecus afarensis) in 2006. |
| Frank Almeda | Senior Curator | Botany | Living roof design. Tropical flowering plants. Princess flowers (Melastomataceae). | Complete revision of Marin Flora. Recent expeditions to Brazil, Panama, and Madagascar. |
| Chris Andrews | Director and Chief | Aquarium and Public Engagement | Aquarium/museum exhibits and public programs. Fish parasitology. | |
| Bruce Bartholomew | Senior Research Scientist | Botany | Plants of China and Modoc County, California | China Natural History Project, Flora of China. |
| Roberta Brett | Senior Science Content Specialist | Education | Omophron, a genus of carabid beetles. | Madagascar and Yunnan, China. |
| Meg Burke | Director | Education | Informal science education. Philippine coral reef diversity, conservation, and education. Feral animals, especially goats. Polar bears. | Costa Rica, Philippines, Seychelles, Belize. Multiple Academy travel programs to the Galapagos and Churchill, Manitoba. |
| David Catania | Senior Collections Manager | Ichthyology | Academy's fish collections | China Natural History Project, Sao Tome and Principe (2009), X-Ray Ichthyology exhibit. |
| Dave Chan | Senior Aquatic Biologist & Diving Safety Officer | Aquarium | Volunteer diver program. Temperate marine fishes and invertebrates, insects. | Palmyra Atoll, Costa Rica (army ants), Trinidad and Tobago (army ants) |
| Nicole Chaney | Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Reptiles, amphibians, insects | |
| Tom Daniel | Curator | Botany | New World Acanthaceae (shrimp plants and their relatives). Native and invasive plants in San Francisco. Pollination. Desert plants. | A new flora of San Francisco, and floristic catalogs of mountain ranges in Arizona and the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Sao Tome and Principe. |
| Charles Delbeek | Senior Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Tropical fish and coral reefs, cephalopods, seadragons. Underwater photography. Live coral husbandry, aquarium life support systems. | Dives in South Korea, Japan, Palau, Thailand, Marshall Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Solomon Islands, Hawaii, Philippines, Florida, and Bonaire |
| Jean DeMouthe | Senior Collections Manager | Geology | Paleontology and mineralogy. | |
| April Devitt | Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Tropical marine fishes and invertebrates | |
| Robert Drewes | Curator | Herpetology | African amphibians and reptiles. | 36 expeditions to 19 African countries since 1969, including 3 multidisciplinary expeditions to the Gulf of Guinea (2001- 2009). Three books including Ecological and Environmental Physiology of Amphibians (2009). |
| Jack Dumbacher | Associate Curator and Chair | Ornithology & Mammalogy | Birds - including chemical defenses and conservation. Elephant shrews. | Biogeographic study of birds in New Guinea. Investigation of toxicity source for poisonous birds. Elephant shrews in Namibia. Spotted owls in North America. |
| Freeland Dunker | Veterinarian | Aquarium | Animal medicine and surgery | Diagnosis and treatment of elephants with tuberculosis |
| William Eschmeyer | Curator Emeritus | Ichthyology | Taxonomic literature of fishes | Genera of Fishes (1990), Catalog of Fishes (1998), Catalog of Fishes online database (current). |
| Jim Evans | Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Freshwater fishes, reptiles and amphibians, insects | Army ant collection trip (Costa Rica); harvester ant collection (Arizona); giant water bug collection (California) |
| Brian Fisher | Curator | Entomology | Ants - especially in Africa and Madagascar | AntWeb: building the global online infrastructure for the biodiversity and identification of the world's ants. First in-depth inventory of Madagascar's ants. Influencing conservation priorities in Madagascar and the islands of the southwest Indian Ocean. |
| Moe Flannery | Collections Manager | Ornithology & Mammalogy | Birds, especially of Southeast Asia | Myanmar 2001; China 2002-2005. |
| Elisabeth Fourtanier | Research Scientist | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Fossil diatoms | Computerized database of diatom names |
| Peter Fritsch | Curator | Botany | Flowering plants, especially snowdrops, silverbells, persimmons, and wintergreens | China Natural History Project. Plant distribution changes in Asia and the Americas as a result of Tertiary climate change. |
| Michael Ghiselin | Senior Research Fellow | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | History and philosophy of biology. Principles of systematics. Darwin. Evolutionary aspects of reproduction. Sea slugs. | Molecular phylogeny of the animal kingdom. |
| Alan Good | Landscape Exhibits Supervisor | Operations | Living roof care. Exterior gardens and landscaping on Academy grounds. | |
| Terry Gosliner | Senior Curator | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Marine invertebrates, especially sea slugs. California and tropical marine habitats. | Philippine coral reefs, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar, Palmyra Atoll, Malaysia, Galapagos. First comprehensive inventory of nudibranchs (sea slugs) along Costa Rica's Pacific coast. Comprehensive guide to 1,400 species of Indo-Pacific nudibranchs. |
| Charles Griswold | Curator | Arachnology | Spiders | Terrestrial Arthropod Inventory of Madagascar. "Tree of Life" for spiders. Planetary Biodiversity Inventory (worldwide survey) of Goblin spiders. China Natural History Project. Expeditions to Chilean, New Zealand, and Australian temperate rainforests. |
| Healy Hamilton | Director | Center for Biodiversity Research | Mapping biodiversity, effects of climate change on species' geographic ranges, conservation. River dolphins. Whale evolution. Seahorses and their relatives. | River dolphins of the Amazon; Palmyra Atoll Research Consortium; Seahorse Sleuth (database of seahorse DNA); continental scale conservation corridors; seahorses, sea dragons and pipefish of the Indo-Pacific. |
| Ari Harding | Building Management Systems Specialist | Operations | Building management software for the Academy. Green building technology and engineering. Solar cells. Mechanical and control systems designer. | |
| Russell Hartman | Senior Collection Manager | Anthropology | Native American and Oceanic cultures, esp. California and Southwest | Southwestern Native American art, especially of Navajo and Pueblo Indians |
| Sylvia Hope | Research Associate | Ornithology | Fossil birds. Crows, jays, and magpies. | Behavior observation and song recordings of jays; paleontology digs for fossil mammals and birds in Wyoming. |
| Tomio Iwamoto | Curator and Chair | Ichthyology | Grenadiers (a group of about 400 deep-sea fishes related to the codfish). | Western Pacific, Australia, Tasman Sea, Angola, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and Indian Ocean grenadiers. Fishes of Sao Tome and Principe. |
| Dave Kavanaugh | Senior Curator | Entomology | Beetles, especially carabid beetles | China Natural History Project; Madagascar; Madang Province, Papua New Guinea; personal expeditions to Hawaii, New Zealand, Siberia, Amazonian Peru, Costa Rica, and all mountainous regions of North America. Evidence for climate change based on changes in the distributions of montane beetle species. |
| Laurie Kormos | Animal Health Manager | Aquarium | Fish and reptiles | |
| Vincent Lee | Curatorial Assistant | Entomology | Scorpions and pseudoscorpions | Madagascar and Kenyan arachnids and insects. |
| Alan E. Leviton | Curator | Herpetology | Reptiles and amphibians, especially in Asia. 19th century history of the California Academy of Sciences. | |
| Douglas Long | Research Associate | Ichthyology, Ornithology & Mammalogy | Sharks, deep-sea fishes. Marine mammals, especially sea lions. Birds, especially New World vultures. | Bioinventories of birds and mammals in Myanmar, China, South Africa, and Sao Tome; revised biogeography of central California mammals; avian conservation in New Zealand. |
| John McCosker | Senior Scientist and Department Chair | Aquatic Biology | Shark behavior, eels, Galapagos Islands fish, flashlight fish, salmon, and coelacanths. Sustainable seafood choices. | Galapagos Island expeditions using submersibles, 1975 Academy coelacanth expedition. |
| Brenda Melton | Curator | Aquarium | Oversees the Academy's Rainforest and Swamp, living exhibits within the Kimball Natural History Museum, and programming animals. | |
| David Mindell | Dean of Science and Research Collections | Research | Bird evolution and conservation. Viruses. Molecular evolution. | Alaska, Middle East, and Australia; conservation of Peregrine Falcons and Oriental White-backed Vultures (Indian subcontinent); avian molecular clocks; conservation of Hooked-billed Kites in Cuba and Grenada; publication of the popular science book The Evolving World: Evolution in Everyday Life. |
| Rich Mooi | Curator | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Echinoderms: sea urchins, sea stars, sand dollars, brittlestars, sea cucumbers, and sea lilies | Marine invertebrates in Antarctica, including brooding sea urchins. San Francisco Bay benthic survey. Sea urchin and crinoid interaction in the Bahamas. Sao Tome and Principe. |
| Kristen Natoli | Horticulturist | Aquarium | Plants and butterflies (the Academy's Rainforest exhibit) | |
| Wallace J. Nichols | Research Associate | Herpetology | Sea turtles. Ocean conservation, ocean plastic and pollution. | Tracking loggerhead turtles on their migration from Mexico to Japan; assessing turtle bycatch in Baja California; Latin America; Indonesia |
| Norm Penny | Senior Collections Manager | Entomology | Academy's entomology collection. Lacewings, scorpionflies, and relatives. | New species of Chrysopinae (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) from Costa Rica |
| Aaron Pope | Manager of Sustainability Programs | Public Programs | Sustainability education and practices. Green building features. | "Arena for Engagement" in the Altered State: Climate Change in California exhibit. San Francisco Sustainable Seafood Watch Alliance. |
| Wojciech Pulawski | Curator | Entomology | Wasps | A revision of the African wasp genus Tachysphex (2007) and a revision of the wasp tribe Palarini (2008). |
| Bing Quock | Assistant Director | Planetarium | General astronomy, solar system | |
| Peter Roopnarine | Curator | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Models of ecosystem evolution and extinction. Relationship of climate change to extinction. Clams, mussels, and relatives. | Baja California and the Gulf of California; thermal spring ecology and gastropods of Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico; conodonts of Nevada; molluscs of the southeastern U.S. and Caribbean; bivalves in the Gulf of Thailand; lead curator of Altered State: Climate Change in California exhibit. |
| Pamela Schaller | Senior Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Penguins, bats, freshwater fishes, shark reproduction | Work with African mammals, tropical sharks, and penguin exhibit design and husbandry |
| Jere Schweikert | Curatorial Assistant | Entomology | General entomology | Madagascar, Kenya, Kuril Islands. |
| Bart Shepherd | General Curator | Aquarium | Coral reefs. Fish biomechanics. New Academy exhibit design. Coral propagation, lighting methods for corals in captivity. | Philippines |
| W. Brian Simison | Curator | Comparative Genomics | Phylogenetics, genomics, DNA sequencing, biogeography | Semi-annual collecting trips to Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Mexico (Baja, La Paz, Cabo Pulmo, Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta). |
| Kim Steiner | Associate Curator | Botany | Snapdragon family. Oil-producing orchids and oil-collecting bees. Biochemistry of floral scents. | South African Nemesia, Diascia, and orchids. |
| Carol Tang | Director | Public Programs | Museum exhibits and public programs, science education. Astrobiology, invertebrate paleontology. | Western United States, Dominican Republic, Mexico (Chihuahua Desert). |
| Debra Trock | Senior Collections Manager | Botany | Asteraceae family, a large group that includes sunflowers, dandelions, daisies, and more | Wyoming, Colorado; Flora of North America series |
| Darrell Ubick | Curatorial Assistant | Entomology | Arachnids and troglobites (cave organisms). Endemic and invasive California arachnids. | Cave-dwelling arachnids in Santa Cruz and Texas; Planetary Biodiversity Inventory of spider family Oonopidae; serpentine endemic arachnids in California. |
| Bob Van Syoc | Senior Collections Manager | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Barnacles. Benthic invertebrates of the Pacific coast. | Intertidal and shallow subtidal from San Diego to Mendocino; multi-year surveys of the Channel Islands and Southeast Farallon Island. Other expeditions to Alaska, British Columbia, Baja California, Panama, South Pacific, Philippines, Borneo, Red Sea, Madagascar, Australia, Galapagos Islands, Clipperton Island, and cruises off the California coast to sample shelf and slope fauna. |
| Jens Vindum | Senior Collections Manager | Herpetology | Snakes, frogs, toads, lizards, and salamanders - especially in California. | China Natural History Project, Myanmar Biodiversity Project, creating Myanmar museum. |
| Matt Wandell | Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Tropical marine fishes and invertebrates | |
| Brooke Weinstein | Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Penguins, freshwater fish, and freshwater plants | |
| Jeff Wilkinson | Research Biologist | Herpetology | Asian treefrogs. Familiar with issues surrounding California red-legged frogs and California tiger salamanders. | Surveys of reptiles and amphibians from Arizona, California, Japan, Taiwan, Myanmar, and southwest China. |
| Gary Williams | Curator and Chair | Invertebrate Zoology & Geology | Octocorals: soft corals, sea fans, and sea pens. Coral reefs of the tropical western Pacific. | Philippines, Melanesia, Micronesia, Galapagos, Patagonia, sub-Antarctic, Madagascar, Palmyra, southern Africa, Gulf of Guinea. |
| Seth Wolters | Senior Aquatic Biologist | Aquarium | Tropical marine fishes and invertebrates, sharks and rays | Philippines, Hawaii |
| Ryan Wyatt | Director | Planetarium | Science visualization, astrophysics, history of astronomy, beyond solar system | |
| Robert Zuparko | Curatorial Assistant | Entomology | Parasitic Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, ants) |
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Click here to see a more detailed Experts Database.
To get in touch with an expert, email or call one of the Academy's press contacts.
