Category: Speakers

Fishes Research Associate, Animal Science and Welfare Department – National Aquarium

Alan Henningsen is a Fishes Research Associate in the Animal Science and Welfare Department at the National Aquarium. Alan has been the staff person in charge of the Shark Alley: Atlantic Predators exhibit for many years. He is transitioning to more of a full -time Elasmobranch Research and Conservation role. Alan has a B.S. in Marine Science and Biology from the University of Miami as well as a M.S. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. He has earned up to the A.B.D. status in doctoral studies from the University of Maryland. Alan has authored or co-authored several peer-reviewed papers as well as chapters in books. He is a member of the IUCN Shark Specialist Group, as well as the Vice Coordinator for the AZA Sawfish SSP.

Alan’s favorite animals are sawfishes, but has been blessed to work with a variety of sharks and rays for decades. Alan is blessed to have a wonderful wife as well as two great young men. They share their home with cats, a dog, a terrapin, and a pond full of fish and frogs. He gives all glory and honor to Jesus.

Foreign Affairs Specialist, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Dr. Katheryn Patterson is a Foreign Affairs Specialist with the NOAA Office of Law Enforcement whose work focuses on combating illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing through management and enforcement efforts, international engagement, and technical and capacity building assistance. She is also an accomplished marine ecologist whose previous research focused on topics related to coral reef disease mitigation, marine protected areas, and marine tourism. Dr. Patterson first became interested in marine policy while representing a non-profit during her first stakeholder meeting on a proposed marine protected area in Belize. Four years later, the Belizean Government established the Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve. Knowing that her scientific findings influenced a policy was incredibly exciting and became a driving force for her desire to be involved in effecting change.

Dr. Patterson is a 2016 Sea Grant Knauss Marine Policy Fellow alumnae and holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Public Policy from George Mason University.

Adjunct Professor, George Mason University

Dr. van der Ham is an environmental scientist with general interests in community dynamics, marine and estuarine ecology, and invertebrate ecology. Specifically, he is interested in how biological communities change over spatial and temporal scales, and how they respond to and recover from environmental disturbances. Heemploys experimental approaches, field studies, and long-term monitoring data to investigate the community dynamics and its significance within its ecosystem.

Professional Bird Keeper; Apprentice, Phoenix Wildlife Center

Lindsay Jacks has dedicated her career to birds- she earned a B.S. in Animal Behavior at Towson University and has been a professional bird keeper for 9 years. She has worked at the Bird House of Smithsonian’s National Zoo, the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, and currently is the Senior Aviculturist at the National Aquarium’s Australia Exhibit caring for birds and bats. Lindsay is also the Director of Lights Out Baltimore (LOB), a non-profit of the Baltimore Bird Club that strives to make Baltimore safe for migratory birds. LOB walks a 5 mile loop downtown during migration season every year to rescue injured birds and collect the dead ones that have fallen victim to light pollution and glass collisions. She has worked with Frogmouths to critically endangered Blue-billed Curassows to Grey headed Flying Foxes (her favorite). Lindsay is an apprentice at Phoenix Wildlife Center to become a Maryland licensed wildlife rehabilitator. She enjoys caring for the injured birds she finds on her LOB walks and releasing them back to the wild.

 

Immersion Programs Specialist, The National Aquarium

Shawn is an Immersion Programs Specialist at the National Aquarium. As a Specialist, Shawn is responsible for leading, supervising, and creating tours and programs Guests can participate in while visiting the Aquarium. Tour topics range from learning about Sharks to working hands-on with the Aquarium’s Dolphins. Shawn graduated from Towson University with his Masters of Arts in Education. Prior to working at the Aquarium, Shawn got his start in informal environmental education while living in Orlando, Florida. There, he delivered tours on marine mammals and conservation at SeaWorld. He also dreamed up new premium animal experiences at Walt Disney World, with a focus on African megafauna. Most recently, Shawn had a chance to travel to South Africa to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity to get hands-on with the conservation efforts of a world-renowned game reserve.

 

Curator, Primates

A native of DC, Dr. Meredith Bastian is the Curator of Primates at the National Zoo, where she supervises the Primate Unit, oversees the unit’s primate research, and manages animal collections including several Old World primate species, including a variety of apes, monkeys, and lemurs at the Great Ape House, Think Tank, Gibbon Ridge, and Lemur Island. She serves on the Ape Taxon Advisory Group, Orangutan and Gibbon/Siamang Species Survival Plan management teams, and is on the scientific advisory boards of the Orangutan Land Trust and PONGO Foundation of the Netherlands. Before working at the National Zoo, Meredith was the Curator of Primates and Small Mammals at the Philadelphia Zoo. Before this, Meredith spent over seven years conducting field research on the behavior, diet, ecology, genetics, and reproduction of wild orangutans in Central and Western Indonesian Borneo. Before establishing and directing her own wild orangutan field site and managing two others, Meredith studied wild white-handed gibbons in Khao Yai National Park, Thailand, Coquerel’s sifaka at the Duke Lemur Center, and rhesus macaques at the National Institutes of Health Animal Center. Meredith has a B.A. in Anthropology and Psychology from Bryn Mawr College and a Ph.D in Biological Anthropology & Anatomy from Duke University.

 

Keeper, Reptile Discovery Center

Lauren Augustine is a herpetology keeper at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in the Reptile Discovery Center and a Masters student at George Mason University. Her passion for reptiles and amphibians led her to University of North Carolina Asheville where she received her undergraduate degree in ecology and environmental biology. In 2006 she accepted a position with the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore working with Panamanian golden frogs, Atelopus zeteki, on Project Golden Frog and in 2008 she accepted a job in the herpetology department at the Bronx Zoo. At this time Lauren began pursuing her Masters degree and in 2011 she accepted a position with the Smithsonian National Zoological Park and began her Masters degree at George Mason University.

Her research interests include reptile cognition, reptile and amphibian nutrition, and population management. Some of her research projects include analyzing mitochondrial DNA of three closely related Asian box turtle species to inferred relatedness, examining eastern hellbender, Cryptobranchus alleganiensis, larvae nutritional parameters and studying the effects of macro and micro nutrients on the prevalence of spindly leg syndrome in golden mantilla, Mantella aurantiaca. She is currently working on her Masters research studying oocyte bound sperm in Cuban crocodile, Crocodylus rhombifer, eggs. This technique has never been use with crocodilians before and will contribute valuable insight into crocodilian captive management.