Tell us where you came from before UT, and what you studied then?
I was born and raised in the Yangtze Delta region in China, where the lush nature started my interests in botany. In my undergrad, I studied Biology and Applied Math at UCLA, and did research with Gaurav Kandlikar in Nathan Kraft’s lab group. I integrated my training in math and ecol...
Field work in the Andaman Islands
Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte is Principal Investigator and Faculty Coordinator of the Biodiversity Research Collections in Bengaluru, India, where he is also Curator of Lepidoptera, Cicadas, and Odonata. He is also Associate Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences. Kunte received his PhD here from UT i...
We are pleased to announce funding, supported by a generous gift from the Winkler Family Foundation to the Biodiversity Center, to support graduate student research in Biodiversity. The fund for UT graduate students will provide support for unanticipated research supplies and laboratory charges to help graduate students complete Dissertation Resear...
We are pleased to have Dr. Krushnamegh Kunte from the National Centre for Biological Sciences in India to give a talk at UT!
Title: Templates, Evolutionary Pathways and Biodiversity Revolutions: Tales of Mimicry in Swallowtails
Date and time: 10 am, Friday, November 10th, 2023
Location: NHB 1.720
About the talk: The ea...
Diving on a healthy reef at Orpheus Island Research Station in Australia, 2019 (photo: Misha Matz)
Kristina Black is one of our 2023 Stengl-Wyer Fellows. She is a PhD candidate in the lab of Dr. Misha Matz. Kristina talks here about her broad undergraduate research leading to her passion of researching genetic adaptation for coral restorati...
October's Science Under the Stars event features 2021 Stengl-Wyer Scholar Ummat Somjee in a talk titled:
Animal Weapons: The evolution of horns, tusks, antlers and other signals
Thursday, October 12th, 7 pm
Brackenridge Field Lab, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, TX 78703
Ummat studies the evolution of exaggerated sexually selected trai...
Mosses appear post fire.
A year ago, I was sitting in the bus on my way home, cursing the heat, staring out the window at the suffering plants when my phone started to buzz and buzz. Turns out, it wasn’t some bot spammer calling me from Valentine, Nebraska. I was getting news about a fire at one of our field stations: Stengl Lost Pines Bio...
Rhett Butler, founder of environmental journalism website Mongabay, is coming to UT Austin!
Rhett will hold three public events on campus. On Tuesday, September 12th at 11:00 am in NHB 1.720, Rhett will give a talk on "Science communication lessons from 20+ years of running Mongabay."
Then, on Wednesday night, September 1...
We are pleased to have Jeff Weigel, Director of Strategic Initiatives for The Nature Conservancy in Texas, give a talk for the series: Careers in Conservation. Jeff will talk about his career in conservation, his path to his current position, and the different kinds of jobs one can pursue. There will be plenty of time available for Q&A after. G...
The word enigmatic may evoke images of mysterious individuals, things that lurk in the shadows, but not usually salamanders. However, if you ask members in the lab of David Hillis to describe the Eurycea salamanders of Central Texas, enigmatic is certainly appropriate.
These creatures are native to aqueous regions of the Edwards-Trinity aquif...
The College of Natural Sciences is pleased to announce that it is now accepting applications for the 2023-2024 Stengl-Wyer Scholars Competition!
Recent PhDs are invited to apply for distinguished postdoctoral positions to study the diversity of life and/or organisms in their natural environments at The University of Texas at Austin (UT), ...
The Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Texas at Austin seeks to fill a faculty position in the area of Plant Biodiversity and Evolution at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor. Candidates' research accomplishments and aims should show evidence of originality and innovation in addressing significant questions i...
L-R: Autumn Magnuson, Alexander Avalos, Emma Rust
The Stengl-Wyer Endowment is the largest endowment in the history of the College of Natural Sciences. It supports UT Austin’s programming in ecology and biological research, with a focus on the study of the diversity of life and interactions between living things and their natural environme...
Woof. (Photo: Andrea Stacks)
Last in our series on pets as invasive species looks at “Man’s Best Friend.” Are pooches so perfect?
First, let’s define what an invasive species is. We’ve got a great blog on it here, but to summarize: the National Invasive Species Information Center defines an invasive species as non-native to the ecosystem i...
CAMN member digging through rock soil to plant three red yuccas (Hesperaloe parviflora), a favorite for hummingbirds and night-pollinating moths.
Not so long ago, there was a butterfly garden at the Brackenridge Field Laboratory, one of the field stations in UT’s growing field station network. This garden was initially created in 2012 with fundi...
Courtesy University of Texas Press 2023
With a state as big as Texas is, there is an extremely diverse ecology. From high altitude desert mountains in the west, to our vast coastline, to low-lying swamps in the east. Since most of the residents of the Lone Star State live in urban centers, sometimes it’s difficult to learn about the plants...
THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Please stay tuned for a possible reschedule in the near future. Email nicole.elmer[at]austin.utexas.edu if you have any questions
About the talk:
With more than a million described species, the Class Insecta is the most species-rich group of multicellular organisms on Earth; insects can be found in...
USDA Photo by Jack Dykinga
We're pleased to announce we have a winner for the UT Spring Bee Competition! The winner is Caroline Chessher ('22) who collected a male Osmia on Mountain Laurel flowers on campus at 1:27pm, February 13th. She will win a free wall poster: “Back Yard Bees of North America”!
The Entomology Collection holds a yearly...
Dr. Pauly's talk has been recorded and can be viewed by clicking here
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Greg Pauly is the first spring semester speaker sponsored by the Biodiversity Center, and he will be talking about urban biodiversity.
Talk title: The Next Frontier of Science is in your Backyard (with you and your sm...
The Stengl-Wyer Endowment is proud to share this public seminar with Ben Novak, Lead Scientist of Revive & Restore, hosted by Stengl-Wyer Fellow Erik Iverson.
Friday, December 9th, 10:00 am - 11:00 am, UT Campus, NHB 1.720
Revive & Restore is a nonprofit conservation organization leading the effort to responsibly integrate bio...