Affiliate Faculty & Staff
Dr. Beard is a vertebrate paleontologist interested in the origin and early evolution of primates and how changes in the Earth’s physical environment have impacted Cenozoic mammals.
My research focuses on collection management – specifically of preservation, digitization, databasing, and maintenance of wet and cryogenic collections. I also have an interest in database development and usability. I have also served as president of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections (SPNHC) (2013-2018).
Michael S. Engel presently works on entomological books and, time permitting, smaller projects in bee taxonomy. His list of publications may be found at: http://publicationslist.org/m.s.engel
Richard E. Glor joined KU Herpetology as an Associate Curator in the Fall of 2013. Glor's interest in herpetology extends to his earliest memories.
Liz Kowalchuk is an Associate Professor with a joint appointment in the Visual Art Department and the Museum Studies Program. She formerly served as the Associate Dean of the School of the Arts. With degrees in drawing and painting (BFA, University of Georgia), painting (MFA, University of Illinois), and art education (PhD, Ohio State University), her research interests center on how the arts and museums function in communities, create a sense of place, and contribute to civic engagement. In her creative endeavors, she makes useful things from recycled and found materials.
Kowalchuk teaches MUSE 301, Museums & Society: Past, Present, & Future and teaches graduate seminars focusing on education and local museums.
Dr. Lieberman is a paleobiologist whose research focuses on studying macroevolutionary patterns and processes using the fossil record.
Dr. Town Peterson's focuses on aspects of the geography of biodiversity with a focus on tropical ornithology and systematics.
Mark is an evolutionary biologist with special interest in birds. He has been a collection manager of two major ornithological collections over the past 33 years. The initial eleven years were at the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, and since 1993, he has been at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute.
Dr. Smith's research combines molecular systematics with the study of social arthropods. I am particularly interested in the systematics, population biology and biogeography of honey bees (Apis) and social spiders (Anelosimus & Stegodyphus).
Dr. Jorge Soberón is mainly interested in documenting and understanding large-scale spatial patterns in the biodiversity of terrestrial species. When he is not working, it is likely that he will be walking outside Lawrence with Tita his wife and their dog, or reading (Medieval History, Physics for non-physicists, or novels). He also tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to illuminate mansucripts using medieval methods, motives and materials.
