Academic history
Postdoctoral Fellow, Mammalogy, 2001-2003
New York, NY, USA
My lab recently began work on a grant from the National Science Foundation
(Systematics and Biodiversity Science Program, Division of Environmental Biology) entitled “Testing species limits, phylogeographic concordance, and niche evolution in Madagascar's endemic small mammals." Based on linked collaborative proposals with Dr. Link E. Olson (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) and Dr. Sharon A. Jansa (University of Minnesota), the grant commenced 15 August 2011 and runs to 31 July 2014.
Recent Lab News:
I was recognized recently by the New York Academy of Sciences as a finalist for the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, which recognize impactful, innovative, and interdisciplinary accomplishments in the life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Read press release.


Science and the City Gala, 14 November 2011, with Len Blavatnik and New York Academy of Sciences President Ellis Rubinstein. Photos by D. Sotomayor.

Science and the City Gala, 14 November 2011. City College of New York Dean of Science Ruth Stark, Robert Anderson, former Chair of Biology Christine Li, and Chair of Biology Tadmiri Venkatesh. Photo by D. Sotomayor.
My lab recently completed a grant from the National Science Foundation (DEB-0717357; Systematic
Biology and Biodiversity Inventories Program, Division of Environmental Biology)
entitled “Integrating systematics and GIS modeling: biogeography of spiny
pocket mice (Heteromyidae) in South America" Read
more and see Research. This grant ran from 15 September 2007 to 31 August 2011. We look forward to submitting several additional manuscripts related to the project in the coming months.
Mariano Soley (co-PI; see People) and I received a grant from the PSC-CUNY (Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York) entitled "Effects of Quaternary climatic oscillations on the evoution of small mammals in the highlands of Costa Rica and western Panama" to fund fieldwork in Costa Rica.
Mariano Soley (see People) was awarded grants from the American Museum of Natural History (Roosevelt Memorial Fund) and American Society of Mammalogists (Grant in Aid of Research) to conduct fieldwork for his dissertation research on the comparative phylogeography and niche modeling of small mammals in the volcanos of Costa Rica.
Eliécer Gutiérrez
(see People) received a prestigious three-year Buck Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution to conduct research on the taxonomy of white-tailed deer in Latin America.
In December 2010, Aleks Radosavljevic (see People) completed his master's thesis entitled "Using geographically structured evaluations to assess performance and transferability of ecoloigcal niche models for species with many occurrence records: a test using the Caribbean spiny pocket mouse, Heteromys anomalus."
In December 2010, Ali Raza (see People) completed his master's thesis entitled "The effect of the study region on GIS models of species geographic distribuitons and estimates of niche evolution: preliminary tests with montane rodents (genus Nephelomys) in Venezuela".
Mariano Soley (see People) was awarded a grant from the American Society of Mammalogists (2010 Latin American Student Field Research Award) to conduct fieldwork for his dissertation in the volcanos of Costa Rica.
Aleks Radosavljevic (see
People) was awarded the 2010 Sacks/Rubin Award from the Department of Biology at CCNY (for the graduating senior student demonstrating the greatest proficiency in both coursework and research in Zoology).
Sam Glickman (see
People) was awarded the 2010 William Stratford Prize from the Department of Biology at CCNY (for the graduating senior or master's student demonstrating the greatest proficiency in research in environmental science).
In December 2009,
Samuel Glickman (see
People) completed his undergraduate Honors Thesis in Biology, entitled "Molecular
phylogeny of the motmots (Aves: Coraciiformes: Momotidae) based on the complete
mitochondrial ND5 gene." Samuel was advised in this research by Dr.
Jeff Groth at the American Museum of Natural History; I was Samuel's mentor at
CCNY.
We received funding for
a second REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates)
supplement to my NSF grant (see above). This supplement allowed one
undergraduate (Jhanine Rivera; see People) in-depth training in many aspects of modern systematics and
biogeography.
In May 2009, Mariya
Shcheglovitova (see
People) completed
her undergraduate Honors Thesis in Biology, entitled "A jackknife approach
to tuning Maximum Entropy models of species geographic distributions with few
occurrence records: tests with spiny pocket mice (Heteromys) in South
America."
Mariya
Shcheglovitova (see
People) was awarded
the 2009 Gerald Brenner Scholarship from the Division of Science at CCNY (one of
the highest honors bestowed by the Division).
In May 2009, Samuel
Glickman (see
People) was awarded
the Edmund Baermann Scholarship from the Department of Biology at CCNY (the
highest honor for sophomores and juniors granted by the Department).
Eliécer Gutiérrez
(see
People) received grants from the
American Society of Mammalogists and the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Fund of the American
Museum of Natural History. The grants will support his summer 2009
DNA-sequencing research on the
phylogenetics and biogeography of mouse opossums of the genus Marmosa.
Tatiana
Caldera-Andara was a visiting research scholar for several months in 2009, conducting
phylogenetic research associated with our NSF grant.
She is a master's student at the Universidad Simón
Bolívar supervised by Dr.
Marisol Aguilera, one of our Venezuelan collaborators. While in the U.S.,
Tatiana worked with our lab and with Dr. Duke S. Rogers, our collaborator on
Heteromys phylogenetics (see Research).
Aleks Radosavljevic,
Mariya
Shcheglovitova, and Darla Thomas (see
People) won
travel awards from the International Biogeography Society to attend and present
their work at the biennial meeting of the Society in Mérida, Mexico in January
2009. Read
more (third story)
Darla Thomas (see
People) was selected as an Undergraduate Diversity
Scholar; this
funded
her travel to Evolution 2008, the joint meeting of the Society for the Study of Evolution,
American Society of Naturalists, and the Society for Systematic Biology. Read
more (fourth story)
Selected Press:
National
Geographic Blogs (NatGeo Newswatch; Anderson and Gutiérrez,
2009; Mountain mouse found to be new species)
ScienceDaily.com
(Science News; Anderson and Gutiérrez,
2009; New spiny pocket mouse species discovered)
PhysOrg.com
(Plants & Animals; Anderson and Gutiérrez,
2009; Biologists identify new spiny pocket mouse species)
Thomson-Reuters
ScienceWatch.com (Special topics: Climate change; Phillips et al., 2006; modeling species distributions)
City
College of New York (Recent News; Professor's Method Links Climte Change,
Species Distribution; Phillips et al., 2006; modeling species distributions)
138th
@ Convent, City
College of New York (CCNY Biologist
Links Climate Change, Species Distribution; tenth story; Phillips et al.,
2006; modeling species distributions)
138th
@ Convent, City
College of New York (3 Students Receive Grants to Attend Biogeography Meeting;
third story)
138th
@ Convent, City
College of New York (Biology Senior Darla Thomas Presents at Evolution Meeting;
fourth story)
Essential
Science Indicators (New Hot Paper; Elith et al., 2006; modeling species distributions)
Nature
(Research Highlights; Elith et al., 2006; modeling species distributions)
Blackwell
(Press Releases; Elith et al., 2006; modeling species distributions)
City
College of New York (Recent News; Anderson and Timm, 2006; new species of rodent
from Costa Rica)
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