This summer the VMNH Herpetology & Recent Invertebrate labs will be co-hosting two interns from the Smithsonian Leadership for Change Program!
Over the next 8 weeks, VMNH Smithsonian Affiliate interns will be focusing on understanding global change impacts on Virginia’s native wildlife and ways to interpret and disseminate this knowledge for local community members throughout southwest Virginia. This will involve visits to field sites, data collection and curation, digitization and molecular lab work as well as content creation for social media platforms, blogs, outreach festivals and educational programs.
We are so excited to introduce the VMNH Smithsonian-Affiliate LFC Team!
Dr. Jackson Means is a Myriapodologist (individual who studies millipedes and centipedes!) in the Recent Invertebrates Lab at the VMNH. Dr. Means specializes in millipede taxonomy and systematics. His work predominantly focuses on Appalachian and Brazilian fauna and to date he has described over 70 species. His overarching mission is to support conservation through the mitigation of anonymous extinction, when a species goes extinct before ever being discovered and studied by the scientific community. Dr. Means enjoys hiking, cooking, and spending time with his wife and three children.
Dr. Arianna Kuhn is the Assistant Curator of Herpetology at the VMNH. Her research in the VMNH Herpetology Lab explores how reptiles and amphibians responded to past changes in their environment, and applies these findings to our understanding of how new species originate and resist extinction in biodiversity hotspots throughout southwestern Appalachia and the island of Madagascar. Together with her collaborators, she also works to document, describe and ultimately protect reptile and amphibian diversity on our changing planet. When she is not in the VMNH Herpetology lab or out in the field catching snakes, Arianna loves to share her passion for cold-blooded creatures and their native habitats with other naturalists & community members!
Benjamin Dye is a rising sophomore at Virginia Tech majoring in biological systems engineering. He is inspired by all of the thought and effort that goes into designing exhibits at museums. This summer, he is most excited to curate and present a booth at Dino Fest. Outside his studies, Ben likes to fish, play disc golf, and build computers.
Megan Vaughn is transferring to Stetson University, majoring in environmental science. She is passionate about environmental conservation and bridging the gap between humans and the natural world. This summer, she is looking forward to learning as much as she can from the museum and her internship supervisors. When she is not at the museum, Megan can be found hiking, gardening, kayaking, and scuba diving when she’s near the coast.
Follow the blog to hear more about the LFC projects and Team updates!
Biodiversity & Global Change Lab 