While I was in Washington DC, I once again visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Heather’s post-doctoral work has been with the Smithsonian Center for Conservation and Evolutionary Genetics, and she’s had offices at both the Natural History Museum and at the National Zoo.
There was a long, long line to get into the zoo.
It was fun to photograph some of the exhibits, knowing that Andrew and Sylvia would enjoy seeing them when I got home.
The oceans exhibit is simply stunning.
I really enjoyed a new exhibit where people have crocheted a coral reef. Fascinating conflagration of fiber arts, mathematics, and marine biology (to name a few).
One of the women who spearheads this hyperbolic coral reef project gave a TED talk. So very interesting!
This totem really caught my eye…
Since Andrew and Sylvie weren’t with me, I got to visit the gem and mineral exhibits this time.
I was surprised to see a large concretion on display.
In Wisconsin, on Highway 14, just outside of Arena, I once visited a bizarre concretion museum (see article here). The rocks were no where near the size of this beauty, but it was an interesting thing to discover it here!
One of the exhibits I enjoyed most was a Nature’s Best Photography Awards. The following images were displayed in huge wall prints. It was humbling and inspiring and invigorating to see some of the amazing scenes nature photographers have captured. And I so enjoyed the fact that I was by myself, so I could wander the exhibit at my leisure.
I met up with Heather at the end of her work day. She’s due with twins – a boy and a girl in about six weeks. Amazing! So fun to see her:)
She and Michael have had a rather extraordinary last few months. In addition to the twins pregnancy and life with their now-three-year-old, Evie, they both secured tenure-track professorships at a liberal arts college in Indiana.
So starting in August, Professors Heather and Michael will be heading to Richmond, Indiana (that’s on the south east border of Indiana, about 7 1/2 hours from Madison). Heather will be the school’s natural history museum director where she’ll be:
- managing the museum’s collections,
- raising funds for continuous museum improvements,
- maintaining an active research career involving undergraduates,
- supervising student workers at the museum,
- teaching one course per year, and
- providing educational experiences for students both on campus and in the Richmond community.
(that’s according to the job description I found online)
Michael will be working as a half-time professor in the Physics Department. He’ll be teaching one class this fall and one in the spring, and his job should grow and perhaps expand in future years. Evie may be attending the on-campus preschool, and their dog Pippin should get to go into work with them!
So many congrats to the Drs. Lerner for this major accomplishment. Looking forward to visiting you guys in Indiana!