Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center

Don't miss ‘Music for the Ocean’ next Friday, Oct 9th 🐙 🐟 Chad Cannon and Hui Wu will be joined by UMSL’s Arianna String Quartet with visuals by Emmy-winning Timothy Ra**ch.

🎟️ GA: $40
🪸VIP: $75 + 1 signed book by Dr. Juli Berwald + a designated seating area

This concert directly supports Tela Coral, a nonprofit co-founded by ocean scientist and author Dr. Juli Berwald, a St. Louis native, to protect Tela’s “Rebel Reef” in Honduras. Proceeds fund a coral genetic bank and Honduras’s first marine biology lab.

UMSL students, faculty, and staff are eligible for discounted tickets up to 50% off via the Touhill Ticket Office. Find Tickets and full details here: https://btpac.vbotickets.com/event/tela_coral_presents_music_for_the_ocean_with_the_arianna_string_quartet/206800

BREAKING NEWS!

It’s official: Dr. Kristen Rosamond successfully defended her PhD! 🎓

Over the last few years, Kristen has studied the Interactions between the gut microbiome and the immune system during early bird development in wild birds. While at UMSL, Kristen was a Whitney R. Harris and Saint Louis Zoo Fellow in Animal Conservation for four years. She also received competitive grants from the Harris Center for research funding as well as awards for supporting undergraduate researchers working with her.

She will be doing a postdoc studying tick-related illnesses, including alpha-gal syndrome, with Dr. Goudarz Molaei at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

We are excited to hear about your future achievements. CONGRATULATIONS!!

Coming Oct 9th 🪼🐠 Chad Cannon and Hui Wu head to St. Louis for ‘Music for the Ocean.’ Joined by UMSL’s Arianna String Quartet and visuals by Emmy-winning Timothy Ra**ch, this performance offers a multisensory ocean experience.

🎟️ GA: $40
🪸VIP: $75 + 1 signed book by Dr. Juli Berwald + a designated seating area

This concert directly supports Tela Coral, a nonprofit co-founded by ocean scientist and author Dr. Juli Berwald, a St. Louis native, to protect Tela’s “Rebel Reef” in Honduras. Proceeds fund a coral genetic bank and Honduras’s first marine biology lab.

UMSL students, faculty, and staff are eligible for discounted tickets up to 50% off via the Touhill Ticket Office. Find Tickets and full details here: http://btpac.vbotickets.com/event/tela_coral_presents_music_for_the_ocean_with_the_arianna_string_quartet/206800

BREAKING NEWS

Benjamin Krasnoff has completed his Masters Thesis! 🎓

Benjamin studied the 2024 periodical cicada emergence, specifically their response to different land-use types across St. Louis. He is looking forward to continuing his research career in a PhD program.

We can’t wait to see what cool things you do next! CONGRATULATIONS!!

BREAKING NEWS!

It’s official: Dr. Jeremy Howard successfully defended his PhD! 🎓

Over the past few years, Jeremy has researched bumblebees’ navigation and cognition in urban areas. At UMSL, he wrote for the school’s newspaper, The Current, and worked as an educator at the St. Louis Zoo. Since 2023, Jeremy has hosted and produced That Science and Nature Show , where he discusses topics from current events to research with fellow graduate students and special guests, such as KMOV’s Steve Templeton.

We’re confident you’ll achieve even more great things. Best wishes for your next chapter. CONGRATULATIONS!!

BREAKING NEWS

Dr. John Bender successfully defended his PhD on July 8th! 🎓

John has been the executive director of Pacific Bird Conservation for years, leading conservation initiatives in the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Guam. He has worked on restoring ecosystems impacted by invasive species by relocating native birds to support their recovery. Additionally, during his time at UMSL, John was a Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Institute Fellow.

We look forward to seeing your future achievements! CONGRATULATIONS!!

We are looking to share this information especially with former students, mentees, and colleagues of Bob Ricklefs. His memorial event is planned for August 17th at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Please see the post for details and also how you can share your memories and photos with us as we celebrate his life and huge impact on ecology and ecologists.

We wanted to share an update with everyone about the plans for a memorial for Dr. Robert E. "Bob" Ricklefs, who passed away on June 7, 2026.

A memorial event is planned to celebrate Bob’s life and legacy on Monday, August 17 at the Touhill Performing Arts Center on the UMSL Campus. All are welcome to attend, and we hope you can join us. We will have a reception from 3-5pm, with brief remarks beginning at 4pm.

Please share your memories and photos of Bob with us at the following website, where you can also indicate if you plan to attend the memorial event:

https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/9NETCW3EcB

BREAKING NEWS

There's a new doctor in the building! Please join us in congratulating Dr. George Todd on successfully defending his PhD today! 🎓

George spent the last several years studying hover flies and behavior patterns in these important, but understudied pollinators.

Years of hard work and late nights have officially paid off. George, you've been a joy to work with, and we can't wait to see all the incredible things you'll do next. The future is yours! CONGRATULATIONS!!

It is with great sadness that the UMSL Department of Biology and the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center share the passing of Dr. Robert E. "Bob" Ricklefs on June 7, 2026.

Bob served as Curators' Professor of Biology for more than two decades, building one of the most significant careers in modern ecology. He was a warm and thoughtful colleague and an inspiring mentor to graduate students and postdocs. A member of the National Academy of Sciences and recipient of the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology, he advanced our understanding of evolutionary ecology, island biogeography, and the forces that shape biodiversity across the globe. He literally wrote the textbook, which has further introduced the discipline to students worldwide.

His influence at UMSL extended well beyond his own research. After winning the Margalef Prize in 2015, he and his wife, Dr. Susanne Renner, established an endowment known as the Margalef Seminar in Ecology, which brings leading scientists to campus year after year to talk with biology students. He measured his success not in honors but in the people he trained, once quoted as saying his students were the greatest reward of his work.

Our community is better for his decades of contribution and advocacy. We extend our condolences to his family, his colleagues and collaborators, and the many scientists he mentored. His legacy endures in all of them.

A memorial is being planned to celebrate Bob; we will share details as they are finalized.

Happy World Environment Day!

This year's theme is "Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future." — a pretty good description of what our community does every day.

The faculty, students, and alumni of the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center study how ecosystems work and how to protect them. Our students are training as the next generation of conservation scientists, and our alumni are out doing that work right now in research, in policy, and in the field around the world.

Today, we're recognizing all of them.

Thank you for the science. Happy World Environment Day from all of us at the Harris Center. 🌱