Lakeside Fellows

Visitors may be of any educational or academic rank, ranging from early-career scientists to senior scientists. Awards provide funding for all aspects of a research visit (up to 12 months in duration) including visa applications, travel, lodging, per diem, up to $3,000 for research expenses, and the opportunity to work with an Academy principal investigator (PI).

Over the last 10 years, the Lakeside Fund has supported more than 50 visiting scientists from over a dozen low and middle income countries and regions (as defined by the UN, IMF and World Bank) including Angola, Brazil, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Gabon, Honduras, India, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Panama, the Philippines, and South Africa.

Learn about the Academy’s current and past Lakeside Fellows below. 

Bruno Cancian de Araujo (Brazil)
Institution: Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil
Academy PIs: Athena Lam, Center for Comparative Genomics (CCG); Matthew Van Dam, Entomology
Career stage: Postdoctoral researcher

During his visit, Bruno successfully sequenced the first chromosome-level genome of Chalcididae. This helped pave the way for future studies to investigate the use of these parasitoid wasps as biological control agents against global crop pests. After receiving training at the CCG, Bruno held genomic workshops at the Federal University of Espírito Santo to share his expertise with his colleagues in Brazil. This helped to initiate a new area of research that utilizes genomic tools to study insect pests of economic importance.

Oscar Ramon Fokou (Cameroon)
Institution: University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Academy PI: Rayna Bell, Herpetology
Career stage: PhD student

Oscar returned for a second visit to the Academy to DNA barcode specimens with uncertain field identifications from his study site in the Dja Biosphere Reserve, Cameroon. For his PhD research, Oscar is documenting the diversity, distribution, and seasonality of the amphibian community at the Bouamir Research Station with bi-monthly surveys conducted over a two-year period.

Andrea Godoy Mendoza, Carolina Rojas Barahona (Honduras)
Institution: Roatán Marine Park, Honduras
Academy PIs: Rebecca Albright and Elora López-Nandam, Invertebrate Zoology
Career stage: Program manager (Godoy) and research coordinator (Rojas)

Andrea and Carolina are visiting the Academy to assist with our annual coral spawn and experiments. They will learn experimental design and methodology in an effort to improve coral growth and survival rates early in development, and they will learn coral husbandry and aquarium maintenance. This will support Roatán Marine Park's growing research and coral sexual reproduction programs.

Diego de Pedro (Mexico)
Institution: Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada Academy
Academy PI: Chris Grinter, Entomology
Career stage: PhD student

Diego is visiting the Academy to collaborate with the NSF-funded TCN “BigBee” project to identify and verify specimen records, as well as learn digitization workflows. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) with the project "Biodiversity of Bees in the Baja California Peninsula.”

Nicole Rasoamanana, Nomena Fabienne Rasoarimalala (Madagascar)
Institution: Madagascar Biodiversity Center, Antananarivo, Madagascar
Academy PI: Brian Fisher, Entomology
Career stage: Graduate students

Nicole and Nomena are currently at the Academy to conduct an in-depth study on ant taxonomy, specifically focusing on four Malagasy genera: Camponotus, Hypoponera, Nylanderia, and Plagiolepis. Their expertise in ants within the Madagascar region contributes significantly to the development of more impactful conservation strategies and the promotion of awareness regarding the crucial ecological roles these insects play.

Abraham Bamba-Kaya (Gabon), Oscar Ramon Fokou (Cameroon)
Institution: University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
Academy PI: Rayna Bell, Herpetology
Career stage: PhD students

Abraham and Oscar are visiting the Academy to examine our extensive collection of amphibians from Cameroon and to learn DNA barcoding techniques in the Center for Comparative Genomics (CCG) to support their dissertation research projects.

Yesenia Marquez-López (Mexico)
Institution: Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Ciudad de México
Academy PI: Chris Grinter, Entomology
Career stage: Ph.D. student

Yesenia visited the Entomology Department to examine Nearctic and Neotropical species of the family Myrmeleontidae. During her stay, she received training on imaging, dissection, and worked on the taxonomy and morphology of the subfamily Ascalaphinae towards completion of her dissertation.

Nomena Rasoarimalala, Nicole Rasoamanana, Manoa Ramamonjisoa, Malala Andrianantenaina (Madagascar)
Institution: Madagascar Biodiversity Center, University of Antananarivo
Academy PI: Brian Fisher, Entomology
Career stage: MSc students

This group of visiting students received taxonomic training in ant systematics, including dissection, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Leica imaging, and morphometrics.

Omar Torres Carvajal (Ecuador)
Institution: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
Academy PI: Rayna Bell, Herpetology
Career stage: Professor

Dr. Torres Carvajal is currently revising the taxonomy of Galápagos geckos (Phyllodactylus) and lava lizards (Microlophus). During his visit to the Academy he examined key specimens to include in morphological analyses and is collaborating with Dr. Bell and postdoctoral researcher Dr. Eddie Myers on population genomic analyses of Galápagos leaf-toed geckos.

David Anchundia (Ecuador)
Institution: Charles Darwin Foundation, Galápagos Islands
Academy PI: Jack Dumbacher, Ornithology
Career stage: PhD student

Anchundia is currently a PhD student at the University of Vienna researching the conservation genetics of the Galápagos Vermilion Flycatchers (Pyrocephalus dubious and P. nanus). During his fellowship, Dumbacher and Anchundia sequenced the full genome of a Galápagos Vermilion Flycatchers to identify genetic variation that may help inform future conservation efforts for this species.

Siddharth Kulkarni (India)
Institution: University of Wisconsin, Madison
Academy PI: Lauren Esposito, Entomology
Career stage: Postdoctoral researcher

During his second Lakeside fellowship (his first was in 2019), Kulkarni leveraged the Academy’s extensive frozen spider tissue collection and the advanced computing power of the CCG to investigate whether the biological complexity of spiders was triggered by genome duplication.

Gabriel Araujo (Brazil)
Institution: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
Academy PI: Luiz Rocha, Ichthyology
Career stage: PhD Student

Gabriel came to the Academy to study genetic connectivity of cryptobenthic reef fish in the Atlantic Ocean and the timing of speciation in Brazilian endemic fishes. He obtained tissue sample loans from several US collections and sequenced dozens of our own samples to produce two manuscripts, one of which was just published in the Journal of Biogeography.

Analyn Anzano Cabras (Philippines)
Institution: Coleoptera Research Center
Academy PIs: Athena Lam, Center for Comparative Genomics (CCG); Matt Van Dam, Entomology
Career stage: Researcher

Cabras is Director of the Coleoptera Research Center, co-founder of the Philippine Coleopterological Network, and a National Geographic Explorer. At the Academy, she worked with CCG researchers to learn next-generation sequencing methods that will help enhance her endemic beetle and weevil conservation work in the Philippines.

Bhrenno Trad (Brazil)
Institution: Universidade Federal da Grande Dourados
Academy PI: Wojciech Pulawski, Entomology
Career stage: Postdoctoral researcher

Ammophila is a wasp genus of more than 240 species, distributed on all continents, for which modern revisions by Dollfuss (2013, Palearctic species; Dollfuss, 2015, sub-Saharan Africa), and Menke (2020, North America) are available. Dr. Trad worked on a similar modern revision for South America. During his stay at the Academy, he carefully examined our South American material, and borrowed material from several North and South American museums. His work is still in progress.

Nur Faeza Abu Kassim (Malaysia)
Institution: Mosquito Control Research Group, School of Biological Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia Academy
PI: Shannon Bennett, Microbiology
Career stage: Associate Professor

Dr. Nur’s research includes Mosquito Taxonomy and Microbial Discovery surveillance in Malaysia to explore the role of biodiversity in disease emergence. During her visit, Dr. Nur trained with Dr. Bennett and her Arbovirology lab on high-throughput mosquito collection and molecular methods for mosquito species identification and microbiome characterization including virus discovery. Major findings include new mosquito records for the region representing vector range expansion, and the confirmation of a virus-rich microbiome in mosquitoes living with people that advances our understanding of the potential for emerging infectious viruses in urban landscapes.

Viktor Khvir (Belarus)
Institution: Zoology Department, Belarussian State University
Academy PI: Wojciech Pulawski, Entomology
Career stage: Associate professor

Dr. Viktor Khvir studies the ecology of pollinators of weeds and agricultural plants. During his visit to the Academy he examined key specimens to include in a review of Lyroda wasps. This research was published in the Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences in 2020.

Nicolás Moity (Ecuador)
Institution: Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), Galápagos Islands
Academy PI: Durrell Kapan, IBSS Science
Career stage: Marine and Geographical Information Systems scientist

During his visit to the Academy, Nicolás joined Academy scientists Durrell Kapan and Chris Grinter to investigate digitized collection data and not-yet-databased or digitized lot level insect collections to identify critical knowledge gaps in endemic versus invasive Galápagos flora and fauna. Nicolás also joined other CDF and Academy staff at a joint NightLife public outreach event focused on Galápagos biodiversity.

Ricardo Pacifico (Brazil)
Institution: State University of Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Academy PI: Frank Almeda, Botany
Career stage: Postdoctoral researcher

Pacifico, who received his PhD in 2021, explored the phylogenetic relationships between the nearly 300 species of Microlicieae, a clade of flowers largely restricted to Brazil. His innovative use of RADsequencing markers promises to help resolve some persistent taxonomic and evolutionary questions about Microlicieae.

Jean Claude Rakotonirina (Madagascar)
Institution: Madagascar Biodiversity Center
Academy PI: Brian Fisher, Entomology
Career stage: Researcher

Rakotonirina, a researcher at the Madagascar Biodiversity Center, pursued training on ant systematics at the Academy to help refine the species boundaries for genus Camponotus and define its subgenera in the Malagasy region. A paper on the taxonomy of Camponotus, subgenus Myrmosaga, was published in ZooKeys: “Revision of the Malagasy Camponotus subgenus Myrmosaga (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) using qualitative and quantitative morphology.”

Nicole Rasoamanana (Madagascar)
Institution: Madagascar Biodiversity Center
Academy PI: Brian Fisher, Entomology
Career stage: Student

After her Academy fellowship, Rasoamanana, a student at the University of Antananarivo and employee of the Madagascar Biodiversity Center, co-authored a paper with Fisher, recently published by ZooKeys: “A taxonomic revision of the Malagasy endemic subgenus Mayria of the genus Camponotus (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) based on qualitative morphology and quantitative morphometric analyses.”

Lu Tian (China)
Academy PI: Lauren Esposito, Entomology

Revisions of the third largest spider genus Pardosa: species and generic delimitation.

Juliana Vianna (Chile)
Institution: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Academy PI: Brian Simison, CCG
Career stage: Associate professor

Dr. Vianna collaborates with Academy scientists studying the evolution of penguins and other vertebrates using modern genomic and computational methods. Her research on penguin diversification was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020.