Christopher Newport University
Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Science
Sherwin Research Lab

Robin Ives is the Sherwin Research Lab supervisor and a graduate student studying differential use of pinyon-juniper woodlands by Townsend's big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii).  In the summer of 2006, she led a radio-telemetry study investigating landscape use by Townsend’s bats in the Rochestor, Hollywood, and New York Canyon mine complexes in Pershing County, Nevada.  She is shown here exiting the Green and Gold Mine after capturing bats for transmitter attachment. 

During the summer of 2005, Robin worked for the U. S. Geological Survey studying endangered long-nosed bats (Leptonycteris nivalis and L. curasoe) with Sam and Jeff.  As an animal keeper at the Virginia Living Museum, Robin modified a specialized diet and designed an exercise program that doubled captive Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) longevity.  She also conducted a nutrient evaluation of three commonly used diets fed to captive sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps), which was published in The Journal of Exotic Mammal Medicine and Surgery (July 2006).

A licensed wildlife rehabilitator, Robin enjoys rehabbing small mammals and returning them to the wild. On the right is an infant Virginia opossum learning to eat solid food. Other areas of interest are bat dynamics and roost selection, conservation of wildlife and wildlife habitat, urban wildlife, and the natural history of the Virginia Opossum.  She hopes to work as a research ecologist protecting wildlife species and their habitat.

Publication pdf >  Association of Exotic Mammal Veterinarians:

"Comparison of Commonly Used Diets on Intake, Digestion, Growth, and Health in Captive Sugar Gliders (Petaurus breviceps)," Ellen S. Dierenfeld, PhD, Debra Thomas, DVM, Robin Ives, BS

NASBR Poster Presentation >

Ela-Sita Carpenter is a graduate student who is studying roost selection and habitat of Rafinesque’s big eared bat in Sussex County,Virginia. In the past, she has studied captive animal behavior of giraffes at the Norfolk Zoo and chimpanzees at the Maryland Zoo. Her research interests include wildlife conservation and rehabilitation, human-wildlife interactions and urban and tropical ecology. She plans on obtaining a doctorate and becoming a field biologist.  

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From her earliest years, Hannah Clark has had an complete devotion to wildlife. She was impacted early by watching the forest biodiversity disappear to make way for high density housing.  Having a love for the felid species of the world, Hannah has studied them throughout her life. She spends her free time on animal artwork and is in the process of doing a painting of every felid species worldwide.

The anatomy, physiology and behavior of felines are especially amazing; they are among the most noble of creatures. Hannah's dream is to work as a wildlife conservationist with a feline breeding program. She wants nothing more than to learn more about exotic feline maintenance and propagation, especially from the behavioral and genetic standpoints. She is also doing research into the plight of the Florida panther, and how false data presented to the Fish & Wildlife Service has done irreparable damage to the conservation strategy.

Hannah uses any free time she has to skin and prepare mammal specimens for educational use, and she is always adding to her personal collection of skulls, furs, taxidermy mounts, insects and fossils. She plans to go to graduate school and study wildlife science and then dedicate her life to wildlife conservation, concentrating on felines.

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Tim Lee is an undergraduate student at CNU majoring in Biology and concentration on graduating on time.  He originally planned on becoming a medical doctor and getting rich, but has since changed his plans.  Tim's goal in life is now to go on to graduate school to earn a masters degree in Zoology with a special focus on Ornithology.  Tim hopes to one day, after attaining his masters degree, achieve PhD status in the field of Zoology or Ornithology, and from there go on to teach university and graduate level biology.  Along with his teaching goals, Tim hopes to delve into researching the endangered parrot species of South and Central America, as well as to study bird populations in Australia, mainly just because Australia is sweet!  Right now, Tim is adding to the Biology Department's preserved bird collection through the fine art of taxidermy.

High School didn’t see Sam Skalak amount to much . . . a long-term membership in the Williamsburg Bird Club, a few years of shorebird conservation jobs for William and Mary, and housing construction.  Then, one day while testing parachutes as a part time job, he totally crash-landed into a vat of toxic waste on a secret military base.  Held as a captive until he realized his new-fangled superpowers, he escaped and ended up at Christopher Newport University where he found work helping Dr. Richard Sherwin with Bio 495 Ornithology Lab. 

Dr. Sherwin couldn’t stand the kid, and so to escape him, he sent Sam off to New Mexico to participate in a radio-telemetry study of Leptonycteris species.  Dr. Sherwin was wise, and his plan worked.  Unbeknownst to Sam, exposure to these particular radio wave frequencies muted his powers and reprogrammed his cognitive thinking.  From here on, Sam thought bats were biologically fascinating.  Summer 2006, he participated in studies of C. townsendii in Nevada.  Now he helps with the task of analyzing that data. 

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Favorite Links:   

National Zoo (http://nationalzoo.si.edu/)

Virginia Living Museum (http://www.thevlm.org)

Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society (http://www.tri-beta.org/)

CNU Recycling Program (http://recycle.cnu.edu/)

Growing up in Bayamon, Puerto Rico, Nelson Torres was a young scientist in the making.  Living only minutes from the Caribbean National Forest (or “El Yunque”), one could speculate where his interests in tropical ecology and environmental conservation originated.  After moving from there, he spent 15 years watching metropolitan DC’s urban sprawl take over his once quiet town of Woodbridge, Virginia.  Wanting to make a difference, Nelson decided to save the world and joined our Five Year Master of Science in Environmental Science Program. 

Nelson has actively participated in various school and community functions.  In the Spring of 2006, Nelson was inducted as historian for our Psi Sigma chapter of Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society.  As founder and President of our school’s Ecology Club, Nelson sought to participate in a number of community activities including coastal cleanups, helping local elementary schools with after-school science and math programs, and bringing about awareness of energy and waste consumption issues on campus.  Nelson spent several years volunteering in the Animal Department and spent a 2005 summer internship as an Aquarium Curator Assistant at the Virginia Living Museum.  The following summer, Nelson became a Bird House intern at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.  Through his internship, he aided aviary biologist Sara Hallager with an ongoing study of birds and their captive environment.  Coupled with Dr. Sherwin’s ingenuity and with help from the Smithsonian Institute’s massive resources, Nelson developed his thesis which is analyzing the effects of human visitors on kori bustard (Ardeotis kori) behavior in a captive environment.  His research is attempting to examine if relationships exist among environmental stimuli (e.g. ambient noise levels, crowd densities, human behavior, clothing color and pattern) and bird behaviors.  We are talking about primary research!

Recently, Nelson presented his preliminary results in the Autumn Conservation Festival at the National Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, VA.  He also presented at CNU’s Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society’s Poster Presentation.  He currently is coordinating the efforts of introducing CNU’s new Recycling Program and is analyzing hours of behavioral data in an attempt to finish his MS by May of 2007.  Clever boy.

Jonathan Warren is a graduate student in the Five Year Master of Science in Environmental Science Program after graduating last year with a BS in Biology and minor in philosophy and religious studies.  He has been the teaching assistant for the ornithology lab and has developed a bird identification aid for 120 of the most common birds found in the area; this aid includes both pictures and calls.  He is founder and president of the CNU Graduate Student Association and works as an office assistant in the Biology Office.

In the summer of 2006, Jonathan participated in bat research in Pershing County, Nevada.  The field research lasted for thirteen continuous weeks.  During this time he assisted in mist netting, radio telemetry, and insect collection of the area.  He led a study of external mines through the use of nightvision, Sony Nightshot cameras, a closed circuit system, and TrailMasters.  During the summer he had the distinctive pleasure of assisting on Markus Mika in the phylogeography and population genetics of Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) in Carson City, Nevada.  Jonathan is currently working on analyzing data from the videos that were taped during the summer.  In doing so has formed the Bat Video Analysis team.  This team is comprised of undergraduates that work hand in hand with Jonathan analyzing data.  

During his undergraduate years, Jonathan has participated in a variety of field work and research.  He has studied decaying matter in both Dragon Run Swamp and the Mariners’ Museum forests.  Jon monitored the Bluebird Trail in Newport News Park studying the behaviors of the Eastern Bluebird.  After which he designed and installed a bluebird trail through the Mariner's Museum Park, Newport News.  Through this trail he will be able to further study nesting success, parental investment, and delivery rates of prey items to nestling eastern bluebirds.  He has also conducted an insect study at the Mariners’ Museum Park to compare the distribution of arthropods found among various vegetation locations.  Research has also been conducted on sand dunes at Grandview Beach.  His future goals include earning his Masters Degree in Environmental Science and then to pursue a doctoral degree.

Carol Brady is an honorary Sherwin Research Lab team member.  She serves as webmaster for the Sherwin Research Program and is administrative support for the BCES Department. She has lived in Hampton Roads for 15 years after arriving when her Air Force husband was assigned to Langley AFB. Her two sons have graduated high school and are attending college. After growing up in the rural south and spending years on the Gulf Coast and Italy, she enjoys the change of seasons in Hampton Roads.