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Below are some of the individuals who have taken an active role in my research program since 1996.
Scientists whose interests have overlapped with mine and have resulted in various collaborative research projects:
Dr. Ginny Adams is biologist and Environmental Science Program Coordinator in the Department of BIology, University of Central Arkansas. She, Frank Wilhelm (see below), Mike Venarsky (see below) and I have worked together studying respiratory rates of cave amphipods.
Dr. Wanzhi Cai is the Chairman of the Department of Entomology at China Agricultural University (formerly known as Beijing Agricultural University). Dr. Cai is a widely published expert on the taxonomy, phylogeny and biogeography of Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), commonly known as "Assasin Bugs". He visited at the University of Illinois from January through May, 2004. During his stay here, I was most fortunate to work with him, assisting him with the description of a new genus of the subfamily Peiratinae (Reduviidae), still in progress.
Dr. Aaron Hagar is an associate professor in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois. He is working with me on some studies of Lespedeza invasion dynamics.
Bill Handel is a researcher at the Illinois Natural History Survey, and is an excellent botanist. He is involved in lots of prairie work and also works with medicinal plants. Bill has been involved in inventorying plant populations around cave entrances for my study of caves in Pulaski County, Missouri.
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Dr. John Holsinger, the expert on North American freshwater amphipods, who is working with me on an amphipod species description. Larger image shows Stewart Peck (left) and John Holsinger posing in front of a tank containing the amphipod Stygobromus pecki Holsinger.
Dr. Jeyaraney Kathirithamby, Department of Zoology, St. Huge's College, University of Oxford, UK, is a leading authority on the insect order Strepsiptera, the Twisted-wing Parasites. She and I are collaborating in some studies of Strepsiptera (Insecta) , and have described a new species from Texas. She is pictured in a cave in Texas (larger image also shows Charles Pekins).
Dr. Jean K. Krejca is a researcher in Texas who co-owns a biological consulting firm. I sometimes collaborate with her on karst research (thus far in California, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada and Mexico). She has been especially involved my research in Texas. We are presently working together on a cave inventory project at Great Basin National Park in Nevada.
Dr. J. E. McPherson is an entomologist specializing in Heteroptera, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and he was my advisor during my PhD program. We continue to work collaboratively on various projects involving Heteroptera.
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Sam Panno is a hydrogeologist with the Illinois State Geological Survey. He has been studying karst geochemistry in Illinois for a number of years, and continues to collaborate with me on Illinois cave research.
Dr. Chris Phillips is working with me on a study of salamanders in caves in centeral Texas. But that's a lizard (Cnemidophorus gularis - spotted whiptail) he's holding.
Dr. Karlene Ramsdell is an entomologist who has worked with me on several projects examining insect biodiveristy. Lately, she has been taking the lead on extracting a few scientific publications from our ealier work on Indiana terrestrial invertebrate communities.
Mike Slay is the Karst Program Manager for the Ozark Highlands Office of The Nature Conservancy. He recently escaped from graduate school (studying cave invertebrates) at the University of Arkansas, with degree in hand. Mike collaborated with me on a project inventorying caves at Fort Leonard Wood, Pulaski County, Missouri. He is currently working with me on a bioinventory of caves in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, and I'm collaborating with him on a couple of his projects going on in the Arkansas Ozarks, looking at more cave invertebrates.
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Jenn Smith was a graduate student in Animal Biology at UofI who worked on the Texas project as an RA. She was analyzing video tapes of Black Capped Vireo / Fire Ant interations, and was heavily involved in data analysis and writing the final report for that project. Larger Image shows her working with Chris Whelan on data analysis. More recently, she helped with the research on karst invertebrates and fire ants. But now she's gotten her MS and has moved on to bigger and better things (a PhD program).
Dr. Felipe Soto-Adames is a collembolan systematist and curator at the Illinois Natural History Survey. We're collaborating on a project examining springtails in Illinois caves.
Dr. Paul Tinerella is the Insect Collection Manager at INHS, and a specialist on the aquatic true bugs (Heteroptera) and beetles (Coleoptera). We are presently collaborating on several projects involving Heteroptera and Coleoptera.
Dr. Don Webb, recently retired from INHS, studies a variety of insects, especially flies. Don he also works on caves and springs. Don and I have collaborated on some cave research projects in Illinnois. He is enjoying retirement by continuing his heavy schedule of research, without all the meetings and paperwork!
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Dr. Jason Weckstein worked with me while post doc-ing in Kevin Johnson's lab at INHS. He, Kevin, and several other folks are working on a molecular phylogenetics of cave crickets project with me. Recently, Jason (now at the Field Museum in Chicago) secured his own NSF grant (over $300,000) examining coevolutionary population genetics of Brazilian toucans and lice.
Mark Wetzel is a research scientist at INHS, specializing in the study of aquatic oligochaetes (Annelida). He also collaborates with Don Webb on studies of springs and with me on studies of worms in caves. Mark and I often work together on statewide stream bioassessment studies.
Dr. Chris Whelan and I, along with Jenn Smith, have worked together on a study of Red Imported Fire Ant predation on songbird nests, examining video footage of the nests.
Dr. Frank Wilhelm is a limnologist and a faculty member at the University of Idaho. He has considerable experience with studies of amphipod respiration and biology, and I have worked with him on studies of the Illinois Cave Amphipod, where his skills and background propelled him into a leading role on that project. He continues to work with this amphipod, though he has taken in the western US.
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Dr. Tony Yannarell is a microbial ecologist in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. I'm working with im on a study of Lespedeza invasion dynmaics.
Dr. Jamie Zahniser is a post doc at INHS who previously worked for me and now works with Chris Dietrich, his PhD advisor. He specializes in leafhoppers. We're collaborating on a couple of projects on leafhoppers in Texas.
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Not pictured above are:
Dr. Mark Harvey, the world's leading expert on pseudoscorpions, who is working with me on a pseudoscorpion paper.
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Graduate students working (or formerly working) directly with me as their advisor. Other graduate and undergraduate students whom I've employed from time to time are listed below under Research Assitants.
The following employees are people, mostly undergraduate and graduate students, but also non-student hourly employees, who either currently work here or have in the past. They have spent long hours in front of computers, or picking through samples under the microscope -- their contributions, positive attitudes, and breadth of musical tastes keep things working and interesting.
These are just a few of the volunteers who've helped me in the field just because they're psyched about field work. Most of the people pictured have helped on numerous trips or made important contributions to the field research. Not listed are many other volunteers who have helped out in the field, mainly with cave research.
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Created 2 May 2001, last modified 29 October 2009.
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