RORS

Last Friday we had the pleasure of hosting the first installment of our Rockhurst Outstanding Research Seminar (RORS). We invited a recent RU graduate and research student of mine, Rebecca Benjamin (pictured at our research site with George Pisani), to speak about "Undergraduate Research for the Conservation of Timber Rattlesnakes." She did a PHENOMENAL job (like we expected) and we had a good turnout. The purpose of the seminar is two-fold: to share outstanding research and creative activities with the Rockhurst community as a whole, and to expose students to the benefits and excitement of participating in undergraduate research or creative projects. Rebecca certainly met both of these objectives with her talk.

COA

This afternoon some colleagues and I will be visiting a threatened site along the Blue River in Kansas. The site is contiguous with our local Upper Blue River Conservation Opportunity Area (COA). COAs are areas recognized by the Missouri Department of Conservation as "conservation hotspots," or high priority areas for wildlife and habitat conservation. It just so happens that in KC we have the only urban COA right in our backyards! We hope to protect the site we will visit today from development and further urbanization, as it is important from a natural resource and biodiversity perspective.