For information on the Carnegie Museum of Natural History Section of Botany and Carnegie Museum herbarium (CM), including loans and visits, click HERE.
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Mason Heberling, Assistant Curator of Botany & Section Head
Co-Chair of Collections Section of Botany
Carnegie Museum of Natural History 4400 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA heberlingm@carnegiemnh.org Blog: collectedonthisday.com Adjunct Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh
Adjunct Research Scientist, Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation (Carnegie Mellon University) I am a botany curator and plant ecologist studying the functional ecology of understory plant species in temperate forests, especially in the context of climate change and introduced species invasions. As a museum curator, I strive to facilitate and broaden the use of natural history collections by students, researchers, and the public. As a museum-based researcher, I use herbarium specimens, field experiments, and observational data to understand basic plant function and complex ecological interactions. My research program explores a diverse range of topics under the umbrella of global change biology and museum collections.
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orcid.org/0000-0003-0756-5090Postdocs
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Ben Lee, NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD 2020, University of Michigan
Ben is a forest ecologist, with special interest in the ecophysiological effects of climate change in the understory. He joined CMNH Botany in Fall 2021, funded through the NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowships in Biology, Rules of Life program. His project uses herbarium specimen roots and field sampling to understand changes in mycorrhizal communities across species' ranges and through time with global change. Ben is also an active member of our NSF-funded phenological mismatch grant research, modeling long-term phenological responses of overstory and understory species across temperate North America, Europe, and East Asia using herbarium data.
Ben is co-sponsored by Dr. Sara Kuebbing at University of Pittsburgh (now at Yale University) and Dr. David Burke at Holden Forests & Gardens. |
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Molly Ng, Rea Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD 2020, Unviersity of Michigan
Molly is a botanist and paleobotanist, with special interest in linkages between leaf traits and climate. She applies these functional relationships in living and extant species to understand evolution in deep time. Molly joined CMNH in August 2021 as the museum's Rea Postdoctoral Fellow. Her project uniquely integrates specimens from the CM herbarium, the Paleobotany collection, and field sampling at Powdermill Nature Reserve, the museum's environmental research center.
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Post-baccalaureate students
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Abby Yancy, Post-baccalaureate student (NSF REPS)
BS 2021, University of Pittsburgh (Environmental Science)
2021-22, NSF-funded post-baccalaureate student 2022, Certified Local Phenology Leader, National Phenology Network Abby started at the museum as a part-time outdoor educator at Powdermill Nature Reserve, the museum's environmental research center. She was all set to join our undergraduate field crew in 2020, but that field work was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Abby joined CMNH Botany in spring 2021 as a field research assistant. She quickly became the point person for our phenological monitoring for our phenological mismatch projects. She is leading the charge on our outreach programs, including starting a new community science program at the museum's Powdermill Nature Reserve that invites the public to contribute phenological observations. She also has several independent research projects of her own, including testing the effects of leaf litter on forest herb phenology and a large scale biogeographic analysis of phenological strategies in the understory herb layer. Abby is funded through the NSF REPS program.
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Undergraduate students
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Searrah Bierker, Undergraduate Researcher
Chatham University, Sustainability B.S. Program
Searrah is studying the impacts of climate change on the flowering times of forest wildflowers of western Pennsylvania using herbarium specimens and impacts of CO2 change on fern stomata. She started in CMNH Botany in Fall 2021 for her internship digitizing specimens.
Searrah was award a 2022 undergraduate research award from the Society of Herbarium Curators to help fund her work piloting new methods of herbarium specimen collecting. |
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Edith Fields, Undergraduate Researcher
BS 2022, Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Edie joined our team as a field assistant in summer 2022 working on our Barking Slopes field experiments, studying the effects of climate change and plant invasions on forest wildflowers.
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Megan Gauger, Undergraduate Researcher
Chatham University, Environmental Science B.S.
Megan joined the lab as a field technician on our Barking Slopes work in summer 2022 studying the effects of climate change and plant invasions on forest understory plants.
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Jack Hatajik, Undergraduate Researcher
University of Pittsburgh, Biological Sciences B.S.
Jack is conducting on a project studying population dynamics of the invasive species Alliaria petiolata. He uses a variety of methods ranging from herbarium specimens to climate modeling. This research will inform land managers and conservationists, especially in western PA, about the fitness trends of this pervasive weedy invader. Jack works closely with Dr. Lee.
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John Mamas, Undergraduate Researcher
Chatham University, Environmental Science B.S.
John is studying a set of unique specimens at the CM herbarium collected by Michel Adanson from the 1750s to 1790s. Though Adanson's main collection and majority of his remaining specimens are at Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (P), these historic specimens ended up in Pittsburgh. These specimens each have something "odd" or unusual about them, specifically noted by Adanson, which he called Monstruosités." John is studying the provenance of these specimens and their significance to the history of botany.
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Alyssa McCormick, Undergraduate Researcher
Chatham University, Sustainability B.S. Program
Alyssa is studying the impacts of climate change on poison ivy using herbarium specimens. She started in CMNH Botany as a research internship and her research remains active in the herbarium.
Alyssa is co-mentored by Dr. Ryan Utz in the Falk School of Sustainability & Environment at Chatham University.
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Alumni - Former postdocs & students
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Ellen Oordt, Undergraduate Researcher
BS 2022, Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Ellen was a member of the Kuebbing Lab at the University of Pittsburgh. Though we've known her for much longer, she officially joined CMNH Botany in spring semester 2022 and continued through early summer 2022 as a field research assistant on our phenology fieldwork.
After CMNH, Ellen moved on to a research internship at Longwood Gardens.
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Meri Raughley, Undergraduate Researcher
BS 2022, Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Koa was a member of the Kuebbing Lab at the University of Pittsburgh and joined CMNH Botany in 2021 as a summer field research assistant on our phenology fieldwork. She continued in the museum using herbarium specimens to study phenological change across time and geography in an invasive plant, Chorispora tenella.
After CMNH, Meri moved to Alaska as a Conservation Intern with the US Forest Service.
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Koa Reitz, Undergraduate Researcher
BS 2022, Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Koa was a member of the Kuebbing Lab at the University of Pittsburgh and officially joined CMNH Botany in 2021 as a summer field research assistant on our phenology fieldwork. She continued in the museum using herbarium specimens to study phenological change across time and geography in an invasive plant, Chorispora tenella.
After CMNH, Koa moved to a position at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to study the impacts of Balsam Woolly Adelgid.
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