Encyclopedia of Life Blog

BioSynC is populated by a happy team of individuals with a wide range of experience. All of us have a scientific background and contribute to organizing and running synthesis meetings. Our Director, Dr. Mark Westneat has been at the Field Museum for 15 years and is the Zoology Curator of Fishes. He brings to the table an immense pool of connections within the scientific community with some of his main interests being the biomechanics of fishes as well as marine ecology and the study of coral reef life in particular. He currently acts as the main public representative for our organization, giving talks and presentations about the EOL, and our part of it on a regular basis.

Dr. Richard Ree, our assistant director, has been at the Field Museum for 5 years and is a leading authority in the systematics, evolution and biogeography of flowering plants. He acts as a representative for us within the botanical community (no small group) as well as helping Mark with other connections within the museum and scientific community.

Dr. Audrey Aronowsky, our scientific program manager, specializes in the systematics and ecology of marine mollusks; both snails and clams. She is active in many scientific societies and has organized and chaired sessions in invertebrate zoology, paleontology, and marine ecology. She is in charge of organizing synthesis meetings, managing scientific interactions within the center, and managing the center’s relationship with the scientific and academic community. Her baked goods and LSU Tigers enthusiasm have become renowned throughout the museum.

Alta Buden, our biodiversity specialist, recently completed her Bachelors Degree at the University of Chicago. She double majored in History and Philosophy of Science as well as Visual Arts. Besides having a broad knowledge of biodiversity, she acts as our resident artist and web expert, helping out with PR by coordinating our website, blog, posters, brochures, and image library. She also brings a fresh perspective to our work, having had experience working in many different nonscientific fields, from the New York Gallery scene to the human rights situation on the Thai-Burma border. She also works hard to keep everyone up to date on the “hip” lingo spoken by America’s youth today.

Dr. Torsten Dikow, our first Postdoctoral research associate, is an expert in the taxonomy, phylogeny, and biodiversity of the Asiloidea (robber flies). He joined us after completing his Ph.D. in entomology at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City followed by a short postdoc at the same museum. He is originally from Germany and has traveled the world to study and collect true flies in habitats ranging from hot deserts to temperate forests and subtropical grasslands to tropical rain-forests.

We have recently (yesterday!) been joined by a new Administrative Assistant, Darolyn Striley, who we have stolen from the Natural History Museum of LA County, where she worked as a curatorial assistant for five years at the Marine Biodiversity Processing Center. She has taken on our financial and Human resources coordination as well as contributing her knowledge of Decapod crustaceans to our team. Originally from Guatemala, Darolyn received her Bachelors from UCLA in Women’s Studies. She has traveled extensively and done field work in Fiji, Palau and Montana. We are very glad to have her here and hope she survives her first Chicago winter. (Please note that the predicted high temp. for saturday is 7 degrees Fahrenheit!!!)