Carnegie Discoverers
Upcoming Events
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May 23, 2013
John Rawlins, PhD, Invertebrate Zoology: The Natural History of Caterpillars: the Evolution and Lifeway of Larval Lepidoptera Sound too heavy duty for you? It won’t be. Rather it promises to be a colorful and exotic discussion about caterpillars, their natural history, and evolution.
June 13, 2013
Our fifth Wish List “Show and Tell” event
A group of museum staff members who were recipients of Wish List funding for their requests tell us what they did with the money.
September 19, 2013
Jose Padial, PhD, Amphibians and Reptiles: The Making of a Frog
Come meet the museum’s newest assistant curator and learn everything you ever wanted to know about the fascinating and amazingly diverse ways that frogs reproduce.
October 10, 2013
John Wible, PhD, Mammals: CT Technology Unlocks Mysteries of Mammal Evolution
Discover how CT scans are being used to rewrite the study of mammalian skull morphology of both fossil and modern specimens, and how the scans are changing how these specimens are being shared with other scientists.
November 14, 2013
Sandra Olsen, PhD, Anthropology: Gigapan: An Advanced Imaging Technology
With Gigapan Technology, a very high-resolution panoramic image of objects can be obtained, with the use of a standard digital camera, which allows the objects to be examined in greater detail.
Selected Past Events
February 28, 2013
Albert D. Kollar, MS, Invertebrate Zoology and Geology: Marcellus Shale and Energy for the Future: Western Pennsylvania Has It All
An in-depth presentation about Pennsylvania’s energy resources, past and present, with emphasis on Marcellus Shale and what it’s all about.
March 21, 2013
John Wenzel, PhD, Powdermill Nature Reserve: What’s New at Powdermill
Learn about the new and exciting biodiversity and ecological programs and projects at Powdermill, the home of the museum’s nature reserve.
April 11, 2013
Amy Henrici, MS, Vertebrate Paleontology: Collecting Fossil Frogs in Nevada
When you think of Nevada, do you think of frogs? Probably not. But, eons ago, they were there. Gain insight, via an exciting new museum project about how their fossil remains, excavated in east central Nevada, help us to better understand earth’s past.
December 6, 2012
From South Africa to Oakland, John Wible, PhD, Mammals
Be amazed by the fascinating tale of the journey of a Bontebok antelope, a gift to the museum.
November 1, 2012
Social Critters, John Wenzel, PhD, Powdermill Nature Reserve
Hear about recent fascinating advances that reveal surprising insights into the organization of labor in social insects, including ants, bees, and wasps.
October 11, 2012
Gretchen Anderson, Conservator
Gretchen describes the critical role of a museum conservator.
September 20, 2012
Cynthia Morton, Assistant Curator of Botany
Cynthia relates her research into the importance and relevancy of genetic diversity in plants.
June 7, 2012
Show and Tell
Our fourth Wish List Event. Museum staff members describe the results derived from Wish List request funding.
May 3, 2012
Field Trip, Sandra Olsen, PhD, Center for World Cultures; Gretchen Anderson, Conservator
Visit the museum’s annex where natural history treasures and treats are studied and stored.
April 19, 2012 A Century of Carnegie Bug Discovery, John Rawlins, PhD, Bugs
No room for the squeamish here—just the reality of serious bug hunting from the 1890s to the present. Learn about collecting from the heights of the Ecuadorean Andes to below sea level in the Dominican Republic.
February 23, 2012 Zhe-Xi Luo, PhD, former Associate Director of Research & Collections
Meet our "Jurassic mother from China," the earliest known placental mammal. Most of the living mammal species of the world are either placentals or marsupials and all can be traced back to a humble beginning in the Mesozoic.
February 9, 2012
Exploration Basecamp: how the “back” of the museum comes to the “front” of the museum. Mary Ann Steiner, Public Programs; Kevin Crowley, Learning Sciences and Policy, University of Pittsburgh; Patrick McShea, Public Programs; Kaleen Povis, Learning Sciences and Policy, University of Pittsburgh
October 20, 2011
Museum Exhibition Consultant Beth Redmond-Jones informed us about M is for Museum from concept to completion, an exciting new rotating exhibition of specimens and artifacts from the museum's collections. M is for Museum opened on October 15.
December 1, 2011
Annual Holiday Event: Behind-the-scenes tour of the model railroad exhibit at Carnegie Science Center.
September 15, 2011
The Discoverers learned how important the talents and efforts of the museum’s artists and illustrators—Paul Bowden, Jane Hyland, and award-winning Mark Klingler—are to the museum, and how their work helps us better understand the world around us.
April 21, 2011
When Seals Had Feet, 20 Million Years AgoNatalia Rybczynski, Research Associate from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and the museum's Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology Mary Dawson tell us about their discovery of a Darwinian “missing link” in the wilds of northern Canada.
March 31, 2011Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Chris Beard discusses his research on the concept that primates—including humans—may have evolved not in Africa, as was long thought, but in Asia. Controversial stuff, but the Discoverers have always been on the cutting edge of science.
February 24, 2011
Associate Curator of Mollusks Tim Pearce tells us everything you always wanted to know about the "shell game"—mollusks, that is. Plus, enjoy the rare opportunity to tour the collection’s inner sanctum.
December 9, 2010
Collection Manager and Head of Section Marc Wilson shares how the staff of the Section of Minerals has built one of the world's finest collections of gems and minerals.
October 16, 2010
Invertebrate Zoology Collection Manager Albert Kollar and Adjunct Associate Curator David Brezinski, PhD, lead a geological field trip to a Moon Township. Learn all about the land beneath your feet.
May 23, 2010
Curator-led tour of Botanicals: Environmental Expressions in Art, the Alisa and Isaac M. Sutton Collection at Hunt Botanic Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.
April 22, 2010
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Matt Lamanna, PhD, shares his fossil hunting experiences in Paleontology in Antarctica, or Fossil Finding in the Deep, Deep, Deep South.
Photo:
Just one of the more than 30,000 bug storage drawers that members of the Carnegie Discoverers were able to see during a behind-the-scenes event.