Undergraduate Students
Over the years, several undergraduate students have worked in the Arachnology Lab supported by various internships. Most have gone on to graduate school and beyond. We acknowledge and appreciate their work. If you are interested in interning in the Arachnology Lab at the AMNH please visit the Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program.
Valentin Ehrernthal
University of Hamburg, Germany
Undergraduate student from 2019 to 2020
Valentin spent six months at the AMNH working on Southeast Asian scorpions. He generated images and data for a morphological matrix and performed extractions, PCRs and Sanger Sequencing. Additionally, he learned about the biogeography and phylogeny of these scorpions.
Diogo Casellato
CUNY, Baruch College | Brazil Scientific Mobility Program
Undergraduate student from 2015 to 2019
Diogo interned in the molecular lab, learning to extract, amplify, sequence, and edit DNA as part of a variety of scorpion phylogenetics projects.
Elena Babicz
Bridgewater State University
Undergraduate student in 2019
Elena spent the summer at the AMNH as an REU intern under the supervision of Stephanie Loria and Pio Colmenares, focusing on Thelyphonids. She was tasked with generating molecular data and images of the specimens, and also learned about the morphology, biogeography and phylogeny of this order of arachnids.
Colby Sain
University of Tennessee
Undergraduate student in 2019
Colby came to the AMNH as an REU intern. She worked under the mentorship of Ricardo Botero-Trujillo and Stephanie Loria, primarily on Ricinulei, with a focus on the African genus, Ricinoides. She generated an extensive set of morphological images, and she also generated molecular data. At the University of Tennessee, she studies Geology with a focus on Paleontology. In the future, Colby hopes to do more work in the Arachnology Lab.
Deborah Chin
Fairleigh Dickinson University
Undergraduate student from 2016 to 2018
Deborah spent the summer doing extractions and PCRs on scorpions in the AMNH molecular lab.
Sasha Mendez
Rutgers University
Undergraduate student in 2018
Sasha spent the summer obtaining DNA extractions, PCRs and sequences from scorpion samples in the AMNH molecular lab.
Lam Ngo
Sewanee: The University of the South
Undergraduate student in 2018
Lam assisted with field work in Asia, surpervised by Stephanie Loria.
Massimiliano "Max" Roppo
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Undergraduate student in 2018
Max came to the AMNH and spent three months adquiring morphological data on some African scorpions.
Maggie Ruben
Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Undergraduate student in 2018
Maggie spent the summer of 2016 studying cuticular fluorescence in scorpions and other chelicerates including horseshoe crabs, solifuges, opilionids, and extinct eurypterids.
Michelle Yun
CUNY, York College
Undergraduate student in 2010
Michelle took part in an investigation of the phylogeny of the scorpion genus Parabuthus sequencing six different loci from samples collected all over southern Africa.
Angela Holuba
Barnard College
Undergraduate student in 2008
Angela worked on a project investigating the phylogeny and evolutionary relationships of the scorpion family Buthidae.
Sylvia Johnson
Barnard College | Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program
Undergraduate student in 2008
Sylvia worked on a project investigating the phylogeny and evolutionary relationships of the scorpion family Diplocentridae.
Gena Esposito
University of Texas at Austin | NSF RevSys Grant
Undergraduate student in 2007
Gena generated DNA sequence data as part of an investigation of the phylogeny of the scorpion family Buthidae.
Sarah Schoenbrun
Brown University | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship
Undergraduate student in 2007
Sarah studied the medically important North American scorpion genus, Centruroides, using molecular data from previously unidentified specimens to clarify their phylogenetic placement. Sarah also investigated the relationship between venom genes of Centruroides and other medically important scorpions.
Steve Webb
Muhlenberg College | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship
Undergraduate student in 2005
Steve tested the phylogenetic placement and monophyly of the former scorpion family Microcharmidae, using morphological and molecular data.
Kanvaly B. Bamba
Yale University | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship
Undergraduate student in 2004
Kanvaly contributed to the first phylogeny for the Gondwana scorpion family Hormuridae, based on a simultaneous analysis six gene loci and morphology.
Michelle McCoy
North Carolina University | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship
Undergraduate student in 2004
Michelle contributed to the first phylogeny for the Gondwana scorpion family Hormuridae, based on a simultaneous analysis six gene loci and morphology.
Samara Maaliki
CUNY, City University of New York | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship | Undergraduate Mentoring in Evolutionary Biology Internship
Undergraduate student in 2003
Samara studied the morphology of the central Asian scorpion Pseudochactas ovchinnikovi and investigated its phylogenetic position with morphological and molecular data.
Lauren Esposito
University of Texas, El Paso | NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Internship
Undergraduate student in 2002
Lauren first came to the AMNH for a summer research project on the systematics of medically important African Parabuthus scorpions. She returned to the lab as a graduate student from 2004 to 2011.