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Registration and project abstracts are due by April 4
Lafayette is hosting the fifth annual Lehigh Valley Ecology and Evolution Symposium (LVEES) on Saturday, April 12, in various rooms in Oechsle Hall and Pfenning Alumni Center.
Sponsored by the department of biology and the Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges (LVAIC), the symposium is a one-day event featuring oral paper and poster presentations. It is an opportunity for faculty and students, both graduate and undergraduate, of LVAIC to come together and share their research in fields related to ecology and evolution. Awards will be given at the end of the day for best undergraduate and graduate oral presentations and posters.
Registration and project abstracts are due by April 4. The fee is $20 for students and $35 for non-students. For information or to register, contact John Drummond, biology lab coordinator, at (610) 330-5912 or email.
This year’s keynote speaker is Ted Daeschler, associate curator of vertebrate zoology at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Daeschler will be discussing the evolution of limbs, particularly in light of his discovery of Tiktaalik roseae in 2006 at 7 p.m. in Pfenning Alumni Center; Wilson Room. Tiktaalik roseae is an animal that is widely recognized as the best evolutionary intermediate between fish and limbed animals.
Daeschler’s presentation will describe the background and rationale for his ambitious projects, how paleontological fieldwork is carried out high above the Arctic Circle, and the science behind Tiktaalik roseae.
His research program is centered on Late Devonian-age fossil vertebrates from Pennsylvania and the Canadian Arctic. Daeschler received a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in paleontology at the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.S. in geology from Franklin and Marshall College.
LVAIC is comprised of Lafayette, Cedar Crest College, Lehigh University, DeSales University, Moravian College, and Muhlenberg College. Within the last two years LVEES has drawn scholars from institutions outside of LVAIC, including Villanova University, St. Joseph’s University, University of Pennsylvania, East Stroudsburg University, and Ursinus College to name a few. The symposium has also included local non-profits such as Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Lehigh Gap Nature Center, and Wildlands Conservancy, along with local school districts.