News
Dr Lee-Anne McKinnell has recently been appointed to the inaugural board of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA).
SOUTH AFRICAN RESEARCHER RECEIVES AWARD
The Center for North American Herpetology is pleased to announce that the recipient of
THE JOSEPH B. SLOWINSKI AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SNAKE SYSTEMATICS for 2010 is
CHRISTOPHER M. R. KELLY
Molecular Ecology & Systematics Group
Rhodes University
Grahamstown, South Africa
On September 12th 2001, the world lost one of its premier herpetologists, a loss that went virtually unnoticed in the wake of the tragedy that befell the United States the previous day. Joseph Bruno Slowinski, the 39-year old curator of amphibians, reptiles, turtles, and crocodilians at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, died in the jungles of Burma from the bite of a venomous snake.
Joe was bitten on September 11th and succumbed to the effects of the bite the next day. Media outlets throughout the U.S. and beyond chronicled Joe Slowinski's exemplary career, cut so tragically short. Because memories of Joe Slowinski might grow dim with time. The Center for North American Herpetology was honored to establish a permanently endowed award in 2002 entitled
THE JOSEPH B. SLOWINSKI AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN SNAKE SYSTEMATICS
This fitting and everlasting tribute, brought about through the generous contributions of Joe's friends and colleagues as well as a significant gift from Deutsche Bank of New York, was created as a trust in perpetuity, with the commitment to award it annually, beginning in 2003, to the biologist that published in the previous calendar year the premier scientific paper on snake systematics, an area of
research to which Joe Slowinski was deeply committed.
A distinguished CNAH committee, comprised of Dr. Wolfgang Wüster (University of Wales, Bangor), Dr. Hussam Zaher (Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brasil) and Dr. Christopher L. Parkinson (committee chairperson, University of Central Florida, Orlando), has deemed the paper entitled:
PHYLOGENY, BIOGEOGRAPHY AND CLASSIFICATION OF THE SNAKE SUPERFAMILY ELAPOIDEA:
A RAPID RADIATION IN THE LATE EOCENE
published in volume 25 of the journal Cladistics, as the most distinguished paper on snake systematics to appear worldwide during 2009. The paper was co-authored with Nigel P. Barker, Martin H. Villet, and Donald G. Broadley.
As senior author of the paper, Dr. Kelly becomes the eighth recipient of The Slowinski Award, and will receive a check from The Center for North American Herpetology for $500.00 along with a commemorative memento in recognition of her achievement.
For additional information about this research, contact Dr. Kelly at
Christopher M. R. Kelly
Molecular Ecology & Systematics Group
Rhodes University
Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
afrisnake@gmail.com
More information about The Slowinski Award can be accessed
at: http://www.cnah.org/slowinskiaward.asp
A pdf of the article by Christopher M. R. Kelly and his
colleagues is available from the CNAH PDF Library at:
http://www.cnah.org/cnah_pdf.asp
Joseph T. Collins
Director
The Center for North American Herpetology
1502 Medinah Circle
Lawrence, Kansas 66047 USA
(785) 393-4757
jcollins@ku.edu
SCIENCE HIGH ACHIEVERS FUNCTION
On Wednesday 15 September, the Science Faculty hosted a cocktail party for its top undergraduate students. The students were selected based on their performance in the exams and included all those on the Dean's List and first years students who had achieved an average of greater than 75% in their June exams. This event was initiated several years ago by Professor Pat terry and is now an important way in which the faculty acknowledges its top students. The event was attended by Professor and Mrs Terry, Staff members from most of the departments and the majority of the invited students. The Dean used this occasion to talk briefly about the Undergraduate Seminar Series that the Faculty is about to launch, and encouraged students to consider a career as an academic. The event was enjoyed by all.
