Singing for Science: I recently recorded "The Warning Signal Blues", a song I wrote and performed for my PhD thesis presentation.

It’s from the perspective of an aposematic creature—one that is brightly colored to signal that it’s unpalatable. Just a silly little song but it was fun to write—hope you enjoy it.You can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo2KuiDamQc

OPEN FOR BUSINESS AT THE MARCH FOR SCIENCE 2018!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS AT THE MARCH FOR SCIENCE 2018!

March for Science 2018!:  The Entomological Society of America made another great showing on April 14th, 2018 for the March for Science in Oakland, CA.

ESA hosted a booth at the second March for Science in Oakland.  Our members answered a number of questions from the public on insect and arthropod ecology, arthropod-borne diseases and household pests.

Entomological Society of America Annual Meeting, Denver Colorado

The ESA held its 2018 annual meeting from November 5-8 in Denver, Colorado.  This meeting marked the end of my term as the President of the Systematics, Evolution and Biodiversity section of ESA.  It's been a wonderful year serving the SysEB membership in this capacity, and representing our members at the national level.

At the end of a  long, fun-filled day at the march for science!

At the end of a  long, fun-filled day at the march for science!

March for Science San Francisco:  During the March for Science on April 22nd, 2017 a number of Bay Area members of the Entomological Society of America hosted a booth on insects as part of the post-march Science Fair.

 

We had around 1,000 visitors to the booth throughout the day, with LOTS and LOTS of questions about insects.

NNEB Jan 2017.png

NerdNite East Bay!  On January 30th, 2017 I gave a talk titled Enter the Dragon: the Weird, Wonderful Life of Dragonfly Nymphs.

It was a blast taking part in NNEB--the audiences for NerdNite are always great, and the other speakers were stellar.  Check out the latest NNEB events here!

Master Naturalist Workshop, Arnot Forest, Cornell University:  On June 6th, 2015 I presented a workshop on dragonfly ecology and diversity for a group of very enthusiastic volunteers and students.  Below we're checking out the fauna at the wildlife pond in the forest.

NerdNite San Francisco!  On September 17th, 2014, I gave a talk entitled Through the Dragon's Eye: Sex, Evolution and Extinction in one of the Oldest Insect Orders.

 

Also on the bill were Zach Weinersmith (creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal) and neuroscientist Indre Viskontas (host of the Inquiring Minds podcast) both exploring implications of "Weinersmith's Infantapulting Hypothesis", as well as Dani Behonick, who presented on the physiological marvel that is the scrotum.

 

 

 

Check out a video of my talk here:

Dragonflies are amongst the oldest extant insect groups, first appearing in the fossil record over 300 million years ago, and persisting relatively unchanged to the modern day. The unique ecology and behavior of these organisms have made them a model system for research in evolutionary biology. This talk will explore the ecology, reproduction and life history of this group, and also review recent research on the ‘petaltail’ dragonflies, a group of species that have persisted since the Mesozoic. Chris is an evolutionary ecologist working on behavior, speciation and biogeography. His work on dragonflies has taken him to Spain, Peru, Kenya and the Fiji Islands. For the past five years he has taught ecology at Santa Clara University. From Nerd Nite SF #52: Infantapulting, Dragonflies, and the Body, 9/17/2014. http://sf.nerdnite.com/2014/09/10/nerd-nite-sf-52/

Family Nature Summit 2014, Asilomar, California:  My wife Katie and I contributed courses on insect ecology, stream ecology and helped with kayaking trips through kelp forest at Monterey and Elkhorn Slough.