Did a fun little segment with Dr. Ken Britt, the chancellor of my university, about our Nina Mason Pulliam EcoLab here at Marian.

*70s bass riffs intensify*
We found the male (radio transmitter attached) with radio telemetry and got a little surprise. I regret to inform everyone that the female (no transmitter) got away while we were getting habitat info, and so remains at large. 🧪

Yesterday was "Fieldwork Friday" for me. A pretty good tally of sightings. Endangered Kirtland's snake mid-shed, annoyed eastern box turtle male, black-and-gold flat millipede, and mama wolf spider with babies. 🧪

Summer restoration interns started this week. First order of business is putting native plant plugs into our weekend prairie. Also finding baby turtles. 🧪

A week and change late, but congrats to our students in our (Gamma Eta) chapter of Sigma Zeta for their excellent showing while presenting their research at the national convention in Campbellsville, KY and for winning the Founders Cup (again!).

Let's provide some much needed respite in the day with some corgis. Exhibit A: mud season problems with corgis. Exhibits B and C are 6 years difference from the first day we met our buddy to today.

Going through final papers for zoology; they drew animal groups from a hat and then wrote about how that group of animals in Antarctica is similar to and differs from other areas of the world, developmentally, adaptations, etc. They're pretty good! One student included bonus cryptid facts. 🤣

Pre-Health club on campus had a "Cookies, cocoa, coffee, cider, and canines" event today to provide a little stress relief for students as finals week starts. I brought Merry to the delight of everyone; one of my students shared these photos.

Our older corgi turned 6 last week, so they both got pupcakes (and had to wear birthday hats).

We're at the time of the semester where current me is really upset with past me for scheduling all these papers and exams to have due dates in close succession through the end of the term.

I'm not late to the timeline zen party, I'm just prolonging the magic. Panorama of the pond in our Ecolab.

My department is hiring a tenure track biochemist (assistant or associate level); please pass this along to anyone who may be interested in working at a PUI! It's a great department in a great city with lots of opportunities for collaboration.

marian.rec.pro.ukg.net/MAR1500MNUI/...

The big sugar maple in our backyard has some cool little guys living on it.

As someone who knows absolutely nothing about actual astrophysics beyond one elective in undergrad (shout out to Dr. Victoria Kaspi) but who *does* love science fiction and space, this is really neat. Really digging the animation showing what might be happening as the smaller BH orbits the larger.

Diana was a force of nature, a brilliant scientist, and a great mentor and friend. I was extremely fortunate to be able to work with her for my PhD; I learned so much and had so many unique and life-changing opportunities. It's a huge loss for ecology and the environment.

Certainly not the fanciest looking Tullgren funnels I've ever made/used, but looking forward to having mites to look at again.

The annual relief of receiving notice from the university that they're letting me keep on keeping on for another year. Academia may not be a perfect gig, but it's a pretty okay one.

Guess I'll start off here with some corgi pictures.