Evolution Service-Learning blogs up and running

Today my Evolution students have officially kicked off their Service-Learning projects! Each group of three students will contribute to a grid-computing project that focuses the collective processing power of millions of PCs on finding causes and cures for disease. Each group is maintaining a blog about their particular grid-computing topic (links below) so be sure to check them out to learn more!

First Class Day!

Happy first day of class! I am looking so forward to interacting with students again. The winter break is a great time to get some extra work done, but it's so desolate up here! I can't wait to see campus bustling with students and other members of the Rockhurst community again. I hope the students are as excited to come back as I am. I suppose I'll find out soon enough, as I teach Evolution at 9:00 this morning and Anatomy & Physiology at 11.
On a side note, I just received my copy of the journal containing my research team's most recent publication (December 2009). The cover is pictured here and you can flip through some sample pages at the International Reptile Conservation Foundation website if you're interested.

The other cats

Just to be fair to the other four cats in the house, I thought I should post another picture. It is rare that they are ever all in the same room, so this picture represents an almost miraculous event. And they were all actually looking at the camera! [I know it seems like I'm one of those crazy cat ladies but I'm convinced that the title only applies if you live alone; so I think that Aric's presence in the house somehow absolves me that label.] Anyway, all 5 of them are rescues and either came from shelters or sensed that we were suckers and showed up on our porch. In the back (from left to right) are Ali, Edwina (she came to us missing her back, passenger-side leg), and Joe. In the front are Blackavar (named for a character in Watership Down) and Angelo (from the previous post).

TOMS shoes

Our cat, Angelo, is now famous! I submitted this picture of him laying on my TOMS shoes to the TOMS website and they put it on their photo wall. I love TOMS because, for each pair you buy, the company donates a pair to a child in an undeveloped nation. They're also REALLY cute and comfortable and they even have vegan options now. They visited Rockhurst campus last year because we are a university supporter of their wonderful cause. I know it may be a little late for Christmas, but they make great gifts!

Texas

I have been in Texas A LOT lately visiting my family. I did finally get to meet my brother's new girlfriend, Heather, who is wonderful (that's them in the picture). I also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with my mom, dad and grandma over the last few weeks and do some relaxing. We are officially on winter break now at Rockhurst but I have quite a bit of work to do. So it looks like I won't be back in TX for Christmas, which makes me even more grateful for the time I was able to spend there recently.

Quick update

For those of you who have read my recent posts, I just wanted to update you on my brother's condition (this is him with my ferret, Pippin, in Texas a few years ago). [In case you haven't read my previous posts, he and his dog were attacked by two pit bulls in late September.] He and Buffy are doing great and have completely recovered, though Jeremy will definitely have some major scars. I will see him for the first time since the "incident" this week over our Thanksgiving break and I can't wait! I will also get to meet his new girlfriend and see the rest of my family so I'm incredibly excited about Thanksgiving this year. I'll let you know how it goes once I've returned from TX. Be safe and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Kansas Herpetological Society Meeting

This past weekend, 4 of my students and I attended the KHS annual meeting, which took place this year at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, KS. One of my students, Eric Kadlec, who worked in the field with me all summer, presented his field observations at the meeting. He did a great job, especially considering that he was the only undergraduate presenter and he was speaking to many of the "big names" in the discipline of herpetology (the study of amphibians and reptiles). Eric and the other students were able to experience a professional meeting and listen to talks about some of the newest findings in the field of herpetology. I am SO glad they were able to go with me and we all had a lot of fun. As a side note, I was also awarded the KHS Alan H. Kamb grant for the study of Kansas snakes this weekend, which will help me and my research students fund the genetic analysis of our relocated rattlesnakes.