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Every AMNH Expedition is accompanied by an expert leader who enhances our travels with their passion for the destinations we visit and their knowledge of topics as varied as anthropology, geology, biodiversity, evolution, conservation, paleontology, astronomy, and cultural history and archaeology. Along with providing a series of formal lectures, these engaging scholars are our travel companions and cultural ambassadors, available for in-depth discussion and one-on-one conversation throughout our journey.
In addition to our study leaders, special guest speakers often welcome AMNH Expedition travelers in the countries we visit with lectures and special behind-the-scenes events. Past guest speakers have included heads of state, foreign dignitaries, and world-renowned artists and scholars.
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Ross MacPhee, Curator in the American Museum of Natural History's Division of Vertebrate Zoology, has studied the rise and fall of Ice Age mammals in many parts of the world. His particular interest is the causes and consequences of the massive extinctions that affected North and South America and northern Asia about 11,000 years ago, which resulted in the loss of the woolly mammoth and most of the other large-bodied species that lived in these areas. He was Co-Curator of the AMNH exhibition Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, and is a popular lecturer and study leader. |
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Michael Novacek is Senior Vice President and Provost of Science, as well as Curator of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. He has led paleontological expeditions to Baja California, the Chilean Andes, Patagonia, Yemen, and Mongolia's Gobi Desert in search of fossil dinosaurs and mammals. His Mongolian expeditions marked the first visit of a Western scientific team to the country in more than 60 years and have received worldwide scientific and public attention for their spectacular findings. |
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Ann Prewitt is an anthropology lecturer in the Education Department at the American Museum of Natural History, where she also directs the Discovery Room, an interactive space that offers children, teens, and their families a gateway to the wonders of the Museum. She lived in East Africa for several years, where she worked at the National Museum of Kenya in Nairobi. She has traveled widely throughout Africa and has led AMNH Expeditions in East Africa for the past 12 years. |
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Stephen C. Quinn, a naturalist and artist, is Senior Project Manager in the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Exhibition. In his role, he coordinates the team of artists that create the exhibits for the Museum. One of Mr. Quinn's current assignments is the planning and production of a new diorama that will premiere at AMNH in 2005 and features the dinosaurs, birds, and the other abundant prehistoric life from a Cretaceous fossil site now being excavated in China. Mr. Quinn, who specializes in ornithology, is a member of the Society of Animal Artists. |
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Michael Shara, Curator-in-Charge of Astrophysics in the Division of Physical Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History, studies the violently interacting binary stars that lead to nova and supernova explosions. He often observes them with ground-based telescopes in Chile, Arizona, and Hawaii, and with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. He curated the AMNH exhibition Einstein and was Lead Curator for the Hayden Planetarium space show The Search for Life: Are We Alone? |
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Eleanor Sterling is Director of the American Museum of Natural History's Center for Biodiversity and Conservation. As a conservation biologist, Dr. Sterling conducts fieldwork studying the distribution patterns of biodiversity in tropical regions of the world and translating this information into recommendations for conservation managers, decision makers, and educators. Dr. Sterling teaches in Columbia University's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology, where she also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies. |
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Melanie Stiassny's research in tropical waters throughout the world spans the fields of systematic ichthyology, conservation biology, and evolutionary morphology. Dr. Stiassny is currently the Herbert R. and Evelyn Axelrod Research Curator, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, and Lead Curator of the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life at the American Museum of Natural History. She is also Adjunct Professor at Columbia University and at City College, CUNY. Dr. Stiassny is an advisor to various scientific and conservation organizations, including the World Resources Institute and the International Foundation of Science. |
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Christopher J. Raxworthy is Associate Curator and Department Chair in the Department of Herpetology at the American Museum of Natural History and is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology at Columbia University. His research work studies amphibian and reptile evolution and conservation, primarily in Madagascar, where he has worked since 1985. During 16 field seasons of research in Madagascar, Dr. Raxworthy has explored many of the most remote and little explored regions of the island. |
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Ian Tattersall is a Curator in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History. He is a leader in the analysis of the human fossil record and the study of the ecology and systematics of Madagascan lemurs. Dr. Tattersall has many articles and books to his credit and has curated several major AMNH exhibits, including: Ancestors: Four Million Years of Humanity (1984); Madagascar: Island of the Ancestors (1989); The First Europeans: Treasures from the Hills of Atapuerca (2003); and the highly acclaimed Hall of Human Biology and Evolution (1993). |
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James Webster is Chairman of the Division of Physical Sciences and Curator of Mineral Deposits in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the American Museum of Natural History. His field and laboratory research involves investigation of how hot gaseous fluids drive explosive volcanic eruptions and generate many of Earth's metallic mineral deposits. Dr. Webster served as Co-Curator of the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth and is coauthor of a new book based on this hall titled The Earth Machine: The Science of a Dynamic Planet. |
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Laila Williamson, Senior Scientific Assistant in the American Museum of Natural History's Division of Anthropology, has worked extensively with its Tibetan and Mongolian collections, especially those relating to Tibetan Buddhism. Instrumental in acquiring rare Tibetan religious paintings for AMNH's Asian collections, she is also a specialist in Amazonia, where her collecting expeditions have secured hundreds of artifacts. She worked in planning and preparing the Amazonian section of the Hall of South American Peoples and the section on Tibetan religion in the Hall of Asian Peoples. |
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