Personnel
Angela Hornsby, Ph.D.
Angela joined the UMZM as Curator in July 2019, after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Nevada, Reno. Her primary areas of interest are small mammal biogeography and evolution, with emphasis on North American woodrats (Neotoma).
Nathanael Herrera
Nat is a Ph.D. candidate in Organismal Biology, Ecology, & Evolution. He is based in the Good Lab, focusing on chipmunk phylogenetics, speciation, and adaptation. He works on a variety of special projects for the UMZM, including outreach, curation, and helping to orchestrate the recent museum renovations.
Erin Keller
Erin is a M.S. student in Biological Sciences. She works with Bret Tobalske in the Flight Lab, studying the mechanics of bird flight. An experienced small bird specimen preparator, Erin is working regularly in the prep lab to expand her skills to mammals and larger birds.
Sky Gennette, Spring 2021
Sky is a senior wildlife biology major. She is working on a project that will have a lot of use around the museum: a comprehensive guide to identifying Montana's mammal species for use in classes, specimen prep, and curatorial work. Of course there are numerous good resources out there for mammal ID, but Sky's idea is to pull the "best of" tips from all those places into a guide that presents both internal and external features, can easily be updated if there are taxonomic revisions, includes order- or family-level diagrams showing what major features look like on different taxa, and can be generalized for public outreach projects.
Larry DePute
Larry has been a dedicated volunteer in the UMZM since 2015. As a retired medical professional, his specialty of articulating bird skeletons for display developed from a lifelong love of birding and wildlife biology. His handiwork can be seen throughout Missoula, including on the UM campus and at the Montana Natural History Center. If the prep lab is open and you see someone scrutinizing a pile of bird bones, pop in and say hello to Larry!
Jeff Good, Ph.D.
Jeff is an Associate Professor in Biological Sciences and the Wildlife Biology program. His research focuses on speciation, population genetics, comparative evolutionary genomics, and the evolution of mammalian reproduction, with frequent collection and use of museum specimens.
