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Victoria Westover — Senior Digitization Coordinator University of Southern California Major: Political Science and Environmental Studies Spring 2022 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Fall 2021 – Spring 2022: Marine Biodiversity Center student Fall 2018 – Spring 2020: Marine Biodiversity Center student Victoria is a freshman who hopes to tie her love of politics to her love of the marine life by enacting effective change in environmental policies. Victoria’s passion to protect marine organisms began at a young age during one of her deep sea fishing excursions in the Sea of Cortez. She enjoys running and going to the beach. Victoria worked alongside Hubbs-Seaworld Research Institute and the CA Department of Fish and Wildlife raising and releasing White Sea Bass and Rainbow Trout. |
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Caroline Haymaker — Associate Collections Manager Fall 2021 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff |
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Vijay Barve — Digitizing Project Manager Spring 2021 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff |
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Jenessa Wall — DigIn Specialist University of California, Santa Cruz, CA (B.Sc. 2014) Email: jwall@nhm.org Location: Ennis, Montana Summer 2014 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Summer 2014 – Summer 2015: BioSCAN staff 2013 – Summer 2014: Marine Biodiversity Center intern 2013 – Summer 2014: BioSCAN intern Summer 2011 – Summer 2012: NSF Decapoda intern Summer 2011 – Summer 2012: Marine Biodiversity Center intern Jenessa joined the Marine Biodiversity Center in 2014 as Assistant Collections Manager after obtaining her BA in Biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She grew up exploring the natural world in the vast rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and has continued that curiosity in her career at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County where she is one of the project managers for the Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean leading the workflow for specimen collection, specimen curation and data curation as well as building a DNA barcode library for the marine invertebrates of Southern California. Each year she also mentors a cohort of USC work study students and interns carrying out field biology, curation of collection material and molecular biology projects for the MBC. |
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Dean Pentcheff — DISCO Project Manager Duke University and University of California at Berkeley Email: pentcheff@nhm.org Phone: 213-763-3217 Location: Marine Biodiversity Center, Ground Floor Fall 2016 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Summer 2015 – Fall 2016: Marine Biodiversity Center volunteer 2013 – Summer 2015: BioSCAN staff 2012 – 2013: Marine Biodiversity Center staff 2005 – 2012: NSF Decapoda staff Dean is coordinating NHM’s Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean. Prior to that, he was a co-founder and coordinator of NHM’s BioSCAN survey of urban-to-non-urban arthropod biodiversity. He has a background in bioinformatics related to taxonomy and specimen collections and, prior to that, research experience in marine biomechanics focusing on animal-fluid interactions. |
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Adam Wall — Collections Manager University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA Email: awall@nhm.org Phone: 213-763-3450 Location: Marine Biodiversity Center, Ground Floor 2011 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff 2013 – Summer 2015: BioSCAN staff 2008 – 2011: Marine Biodiversity Center student 2008 – 2011: NSF Decapoda student Meet Adam Wall, Collections Manager of Crustacea, ADSP (Associate Director of Special Projects) of NHMLA’s Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean (DISCO) Project, and Board Member of the NHMLA’s Community Science (AKA Citizen Science) Working Group. In my role as Crustacea Collections Manager I am responsible for overseeing the curation, digitization, and loans of specimens for research or exhibit, and visitor access related to the world’s fourth largest collection of Crustacea specimens. My research interest within the crustaceans is as broad as the NHMLA collections itself, which has specimens from both across the world and across all major crustacean taxa. My research focus is in population genetics, phylogenetic, systematics and taxonomy of Isopoda (AKA pill bugs, roly polies, or slaters), Anostraca (AKA Fairy Shrimps or Sea-Monkeys), and deep sea hydrothermal vent Decapoda (shrimps and crabs). I have conducted extensive research throughout the eastern Pacific Ocean as well as in Central America and Australia. In my role as Associate Director of Special Projects (ADSP) for NHMLA’s Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean (DISCO) Project, I am responsible for developing the novel pipeline capable of processing the some 25,000 specimens needed to develop a DNA barcode database for marine invertebrates of California — ranging from Point Conception to the Mexican border. This includes specimen collection, identification, photo and museum vouchering, DNA extraction, DNA barcode sequence generation, and depositing sequence data into international sequence databases such as NCBI and BOLD. I am also responsible for enabling the integration of the DNA barcoding efforts of our DISCO project into the actively developing fields of metabarcoding and environmental DNA (eDNA) for both species diversity studies as well as rare (endangered) and invasive species detection through strong collaboration with leading institutions in these emerging fields of molecular biology. All of these are novel tools we are developing with the hope to aim directly at some of the most important problems facing society today, including, but not limited to, climate change, shifts and changes in global biodiversity, and increased extinction rates in the Anthropocene. As NHMLA Community Science Working Group Board Member, I am involved with developing NHMLA’s initiative to include all residents of Los Angeles in Community Science projects as part of our mission to be a museum for and of LA, personally co-leading two Community Science projects. One project is for the remote transcription of museum specimen data, and the second is the NHMLA based DISCO Project which partners with community scientists to monitor invasive species in southern California marinas. |
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Regina Wetzer — Curator, Marine Biodiversity Center Director, PI of Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean (DISCO) University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC (Ph.D. 2000) Email: rwetzer@nhm.org Phone: 213-763-3217 Location: Marine Biodiversity Center, Ground Floor 2002 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff 2016 – present: PI, Diversity Initiative for the Southern California Ocean (DISCO). 2013 – 2015: Co-PI, Biodiversity Science: City and Nature (BioSCAN). 1993: Collections Management Consultant for San Diego Natural History Museum. 1987 – 1993: Senior Collections Manager, Department of Marine Invertebrates, San Diego Natural History Museum. 1985 – 1987: Collections Manager, Invertebrate Section, Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Museum. Morphological and molecular crustacean systematist. Invertebrate taxonomist. Relational database design for museum collections, laboratory information management systems, and bibliographic inventories. Extensive experience in database development, construction, and analysis. |
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Kathy Omura — Collections Manager University of Alaska, Fairbanks (B.Sc. 1987) Major: Wildlife Management Email: komura@nhm.org Phone: 213-763-3386 Location: Marine Biodiversity Center, Ground Floor 2001 – present: Marine Biodiversity Center staff 2013 – Summer 2015: BioSCAN staff Laboratory Supervisor, Department of Zoology, University of Hawaii-Manoa. Laboratory Technician, Institute of Marine Science, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska-Fairbanks. Benthic invertebrate sample processing, curation, identification, and taxonomy. Extensive invertebrate taxonomic experience with emphasis on polychaete worms. Training and supervision of students and laboratory assistants. Quality control of data entry and taxonomic identifications. |
2014 |
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Phyllis Sun — Assistant Collections Manager University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (B.F.A. 2011) Major: Fine Arts Email: psun@nhm.org Phone: 213-763-3386 Location: Marine Biodiversity Center, Ground Floor Fall 2008 – 2011: Marine Biodiversity Center student 2011 – 2014: Marine Biodiversity Center staff 2013 – 2014: BioSCAN staff Phyllis earned a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the University of Southern California's Roski School of Fine Arts, emphasizing photography, drawing, and design. While at USC, she worked for the Marine Biodiversity Center, photographing specimens and assisting with the start up of a photographic database for the Malacology and Invertebrate Paleontology collections. Phyllis joined the Marine Biodiversity Center as staff in 2011, where she helps curate and database specimens. Phyllis hopes to continue her interest in curation and conservation. |
2011 |
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Emma Freeman — Curatorial Assistant University of of Southern California, B.A. 2009, Environmental Studies Fall 2009 – Summer 2011: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Administrative Assistant, Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Research Assistant, Alcohol and Brain Lab, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California. Student, Paleoclimatology Lab, University of Southern California. Emma enjoys learning about the great diversity of marine invertebrates and all their weird ways. She loves natural history museums. |
2009 |
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Kris Netchy — Curatorial Assistant University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, B.S. 2004, Zoology Summer 2008 – Summer 2009: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Research and Field Assistant, University of Guam Marine Laboratory, 2006-2008. Research Assistant and Molecular Lab Technician, Florida Museum of Natural History, 2005-2006. Collections Assistant, Florida Museum of Natural History, 2003-2006. Marine invertebrate taxonomy, particularly knowledgeable regarding tropical aspidochirote holothurians. Marine invertebrate evolution, speciation, and biogeography. I absolutely love learning about all aspects of marine invertebrate biodiversity and natural history through curation and observation of live organisms in the field! |
2007 |
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Darolyn Striley — Curatorial Assistant University of California Los Angeles, Westwood, California, B.A. 2002, Women's Studies 2002 – 2007: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Darolyn worked for our Museum as Curatorial Assistant in the Crustacea Department where she helped move the University of Southern California Allan Hancock Foundation collection. She coordinated volunteers and workstudy students into a team who helped shelve in taxonomic order the 100,000+ lot collection. She enjoys sorting and identifying invertebrates and encountering specimens in the field, like this ocypodid crab in Huatulco, Mexico, which seconds later took a chunk off her finger. |
2005 |
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Krista Zala — Curatorial Assistant University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, B.S. 2001, Biology and Women’s Studies 2002 – 2005: Marine Biodiversity Center staff While spending weekends on the shores around Vancouver Island, Canada, Krista developed a great fascination for intertidal creatures and seaweeds. In field courses while working on her undergraduate degree at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Center (BMSC), she studied the morphological diversity of Macrocystis intergrifolia, used fitness models to predict brooding and broadcast spawning in benthic invertebrates, and studied dialect change in killer whales. She has worked as a nature interpreter, a research assistant at BMSC, and as a public educator at The Land Conservancy of British Columbia. Now that she's in L.A., the MBPC has her surrounded by marine snails — let's hope she can outrun them! |
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Neftali (Nefty) Camacho — Curatorial Assistant California State Polytechnic, Pomona, California, B.S. 2002, Zoology 2002 – 2005: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Teaching Assistant, Invertebrate Zoology, Cal Poly Pomona, 2000-2002. Laboratory Assistant, Entomology, Cal Poly Pomona, 2000-2002. Research Assistant, Entomology, Cal Poly Pomona, 2000-2001. General marine invertebrate curation, identification, and taxonomy. Experience in identification and curation of insect families both terrestrial and aquatic. Field research experience capturing and identifying Hymenopterans (bees, wasps). Nefty’s interests are phylogeny and social animal behavior. His fascination in phylogeny stems from his interests in family trees, figuring out where organisms came from and how they changed over time. His interest in animal social behavior is rooted from observing his flock of pet guinea hens interacting with one another. He hopes his work adds to the preservation and knowledge of our natural world. |
2002 |
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Phil Hoover — Curatorial Assistant 2001 – 2002: Marine Biodiversity Center staff Invertebrate survey sample processing. |