Commencement: 2013-Present
The Richard Gilder Graduate School (RGGS) has celebrated commencement under the Museum’s iconic Blue Whale since 2013, conferring Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Comparative Biology and, since 2015, Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degrees.
Every year, the school also awards honorary doctorates to scientists, educators, and civic and business leaders who embody the work and mission of the American Museum of Natural History.
Honorary Degree Recipients
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
- Jo Handelsman, director, Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, Vilar Research Professor, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa,
- Darren Walker, president, Ford Foundation, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Svante Pääbo, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; honorary professor, Leipzig University; and adjunct professor, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology; Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa,
- Allison Hughes Mignone, civic leader, philanthropist, and vice chair, Development Committee, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Roberto A. Mignone, founder and president, Bridger Capital LLC, and vice chair, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Theodore A. Mathas, retired chairman and CEO, New York Life Insurance Company, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Donald Roswell Hopkins, special advisor for Guinea worm eradication and former Vice President for Health at The Carter Center, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Robert Miller Hazen, senior staff scientist at Carnegie Institution’s Earth & Planets Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, at George Mason University, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- David N. Spergel, president, Simons Foundation; director emeritus, Center for Computational Astrophysics, Flatiron Institute; Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy Emeritus on the Class of 1897 Foundation, Princeton University; Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- The Honorable Thomas H. Kean, chairman, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Vartan Gregorian, president, Carnegie Corporation of New York; Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Claire Kremen, professor and President’s Excellence Chair In Biodiversity at the University of British Columbia; Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Maritza Macdonald, senior director of education and policy emerita; researcher and teaching faculty, Master of Arts in Teaching Program, American Museum of Natural History; Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Jane Lubchenco, distinguished university professor and marine studies advisor to the president, Oregon State University, and former administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Andrew Herbert Knoll, Fisher Professor of Natural History, professor of Earth and planetary science, and curator of the Paleobotanical Collections at the Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Ruth L. Gottesman, professor emerita, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- David S. Gottesman, senior managing director, First Manhattan Company, and vice chairman, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Gilberto Silva Taboada, curator emeritus, professor, and founding member, Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Cuba, and honorary member, founding member, and first secretary, Academia de Ciencias de Cuba; Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- John B. King, Jr., United States Secretary of Education, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Mee-mann Chang, research professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professor, Peking University, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., retired chairman and chief executive officer of IBM, and vice chairman, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Edward O. Wilson, university research professor emeritus, Harvard University, and Honorary Trustee, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Dame Alison F. Richard, senior research scientist and Crosby Professor Emerita, Yale University, and vice-chancellor emerita, University of Cambridge, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
- Richard Gilder, Trustee, American Museum of Natural History, Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa
- Rita Colwell, former director, National Science Foundation, Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland College Park and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa
Commencements
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
On September 24, 2024, the Richard Gilder Graduate School celebrated three Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 18 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates.
The 2024 doctoral graduates:
- Eva Amelia Hoffman, dissertation: “Evolution of mammalian heads and tails”
- Ernesto Ezequiel Vargas-Parra, dissertation: “Modularity at different levels in trilobites”
- Leroy Núñez, dissertation: “Evolution of the diverse North American gartersnakes, watersnakes, and allies (Natricidae: Thamnophiini)”
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Oskar Alvarez, Gizel Dan-Yette Brewer, Bradly David Crouthamel, Mariana Hernandez, Yosmeiry Hernandez Morales, Mateo De Paz Inoa, Henry Morgan Jones, Karena Kellman, Camille Claude Lederer, Katherine Marriott, Lizbeth Martinez, Quintin Powers, Brooke Lyn Reinhart, Steven Rivera, Amanda Isabel Rodriguez, Sarah Melissa Saco, Jordan Cathryn Straub, and Roslyn Sophie Woods.
The Museum also honored Jo Handelsman with the degree of Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, and Darren Walker with the degree of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
Renowned molecular biologist Jo Handelsman, who is the director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, was recognized for having pioneered the field of metagenomics, and for her trailblazing research into the complexity of soil, plant root, and gut microbiomes and their roles as potential sources of antibiotics. Among many distinctions, she co-founded the Women in Science & Engineering Leadership Institute, was appointed the first president of the Rosalind Franklin Society, was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, and served as associate director for science at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Barack Obama.
Distinguished philanthropic leader Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, has held leadership positions at the Rockefeller Foundation, where he oversaw efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the Abyssinian Development Corporation, spurring the revitalization of Harlem. As president of the Ford Foundation, he has promoted social justice around the world while advocating for greater inclusion in the field of philanthropy. He is also a deeply engaged civil leader, serving as co-chair of New York City’s Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments, and Markers, as well as on the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, among many other non-profit and private sector boards.
On September 27, 2023, the Richard Gilder Graduate School celebrated four Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 15 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates.
The 2023 doctoral graduates:
- Alexandra Grace Walling, dissertation: “A phylogenetic and comparative genomic history of the evolution of photosynthesis in Erythrobacteraceae”
- Nayeli Gutiérrez Trejo, dissertation: “Evolutionary history of milkweed longhorn beetles of the genus Tetraopes Dalman in Schöner (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae)”
- Hollister Wade Herhold, dissertation: “Tracheae and hemoglobins: a comparative study of morphological and molecular adaptations for respiration in insects”
- Tobit Liyandja Dja Liyandja, dissertation: “Phylogenomics, historical biogeography, and temporal diversification of African labeo (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae)”
Matt Shanley/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Edinson Fabian Aguinaga Arancibia, Caroline Harpur Cassese, Constantin Dubischar, Shaina C. Durand, Jonathan P. Egloff, Marcos A. Fernandez, Mary Aurora Jimenez, Ryan Korman, Matthew Gordon Lutz, Kelly O’Donnell, Kai Peterson, Mekayla Lee Sullivan, Erin Cecilia Szablewski, Kim Thanh Vũ, and Robert Zummo.
Alvaro Keding/© AMNH
The Museum also honored Roberto A. Mignone and Allison Hughes Mignone, both with the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, and Svante Pääbo with the degree Doctor of Humane Science, Honoris Causa.
Svante Pääbo has been a pioneering researcher who enabled science to delve more deeply into the mysteries of human origins and evolution than ever thought possible, including sequencing the genome of Neanderthals. He has served as director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany,an honorary professor, Leipzig University, and adjunct professor, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. In 2022, he was awarded in the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
A civic leader and philanthropist, Allison Hughes Mignone has served as vice chair of the Museum's development committee. Roberto A. Mignone held the titles founder and president of Bridger Capital LLC and vice chair of the Museum. Visionary benefactors, their support enabled the creation of the magnificent and pedagogically powerful Allison and Roberto Mignone Family Halls of Gems and Minerals and has helped the Museum develop innovative approaches to family and early childhood learning as an essential investment in the future.
On September 14, 2022, the Richard Gilder Graduate School celebrated four Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 13 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates.
The 2022 doctoral graduates:
- Richard Benjamin Sulser, dissertation: “An island apart: sensory disparity in phenotype and genotype within the Tenrecomorpha”
- Maggs X, dissertation: “Genomic evolution of the female reproductive system and parity modes in snakes”
- Johannes Sebastian Neumann, dissertation: “An interdisciplinary approach to comparative animal biology with focus on Placozoa”
- James Gaspare Napoli, dissertation: “Uncertainty and variation in the dinosaur fossil record”
Matt Shanley/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Thomas Centeno, Kirsten Breanna Farmer, Gavin Guild, Eleanor Everest Johnson, Lenee Mason, Dawn G. McCullough, Camryn Mcgrath, Nicole Denise Muñoz, Troy Jay-Alexander Parish, Hannah Park, Cristina Marie Russo, Xue Weng, and Celina Wong.
Matt Shanley/© AMNH
The Museum also honored Theodore A. Mathas with the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, and Donald Roswell Hopkins and Robert Miller Hazen, both with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
Theodore A. Mathas was honored as an advocate for science and education, a philanthropist, business leader, and extraordinary Trustee of the Museum. With his wife Keryn and in partnership of the New York Life Foundation, where he is chairman and CEO, he supported educational opportunities for underserved students as well as childhood bereavement support, and contributed generously to foundational educational programs at the Museum, including Youth Initiatives, and, in the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, support for a classroom in the Weston Curiosity Zone.
Donald Roswell Hopkins has been recognized as a leading expert in parasitology, tropical disease epidemiology, and global public health, who played a key role in the eradication of smallpox, the first human disease ever to be wiped out. At President Jimmy Carter’s Carter Center, he led efforts to eradicate Guinea worm disease, hosted the International Task Force on Disease Eradication, and added programs to eliminate and control other neglected tropical diseases. Among many honors, he has been named a MacArthur Fellow and fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A pioneering minerologist who revolutionized the study and classification of minerals, Robert Miller Hazen held the title principal investigator and executive director of the Deep Carbon Observatory, an international effort to advance understanding of the chemical and biological roles of carbon on Earth. Named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Geochemical Society, and Geological Society of America, he has served as a senior staff scientist at Carnegie Institution’s Earth & Planets Laboratory and Clarence Robinson Professor of Earth Sciences Emeritus at George Mason University.
On October 14, 2021, the commencement ceremony celebrated four Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 15 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Simons Foundation President David N. Spergel with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
The 2020–21 doctoral graduates:
- Alexandra Justyna Buczek, dissertation: “The utility of mollusks in determining age, climate, and environmental drivers of faunal distribution in Plio-Pleistocene marine formations and implications for modern coastal ecosystems”
- Melissa Robin Ingala, dissertation: “Molecular ecology of bats and their gut microbial symbionts: structure, function, and dietary interactions”
- Kaiya Lynn Provost, dissertation: “Population genomics of North American warm desert birds”
- Lukas Jonathan Macari Musher, dissertation: “Macroevolutionary and phylogeographic perspectives on avian diversification in the neotropics”
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Ethan Carotti, Jose Garcia-Villar, Lauren Humphreys, Madison Huscher, Florence Laplaca, Jaiwantie Manni, Nicolle Martinez, Kellie O’Grady, Trishna Ramsamooj, Sonya Riccio, Marlo Romero, Anny Sainvil, Olivia Santangelo, Mackenzie Ulrop, and Erick Wright.
David N. Spergel is known as an eminent astrophysicist, pioneering theorist, and influential science leader whose research contributed substantially to our understanding of the nature of the universe. A MacArthur Fellow and winner of the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physic, he has nurtured future scientists and pressed for a larger and more central role for science in our national conversation and society. His numerous affiliations have included being a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
On September 25, 2019, the commencement ceremony celebrated three Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 15 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Thomas Kean, Vartan Gregorian, and Maritza Macdonald, all with the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, and Claire Kremen, with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
The 2019 doctoral graduates:
- Anna Jacquelyn Ragni, dissertation: “The ontogeny of internal and external bone in the primate hand and foot”
- Kelly Anne Speer, dissertation: “Sources of variation in the microbiome of blood-feeding insect parasites of bats”
- Jeremy Aaron Frank, dissertation: “Morphological, behavioral, and molecular phylogenetics of the solitary wasp genus Bembix (Hymenoptera: Bembicidae)”
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Adele Antalek, Ian Breslow, Emily Dipadova, Rae-Ellen Lynn Donofrio, Rachael Elizabeth Gray, Noa Jaffe, Tiffany Caroline Leone, Audrey Lew, Stivaly Paulino, Lisa Miguel Smith, Riley Jeanne Smith, Franklyn Tranquilino Telles, Jessica Wolk-Stanley, Namshik Yoon, and Victoria Y.Y. Yuan.
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Thomas Kean and Vartan Gregorian, as chairman and president of the Carnegie Corporation, respectively, together advanced education, democracy, and philanthropy, strengthening our nation and global future. The 48th Governor of New Jersey, Kean served as president of Drew University and was later appointed by President George W. Bush to chair the bipartisan National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, known as the 9/11 Commission. An historian, academic, and cultural and foundation leader, Gregorian was the founding dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Provost of the University of Pennsylvania and, later, president of Brown University and president of the New York Public Library.
An ecologist and conservation biologist, Claire Kremen, has been a professor at Princeton and the University of California, Berkeley, and founding faculty director for the Center for Diversified Farming Systems and the Berkeley Food Institute. She has worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Xerces Society, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship on 2007, and has served as President’s Excellence Chair in Biodiversity at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia.
Maritza Macdonald, the Museum’s Senior Director of Education and Policy Emerita, has served as an adjunct professor and dissertation advisor at Teachers College, Columbia University, CUNY’s Lehman College, and Bank Street College. A much-beloved colleague, counselor, and mentor, she was instrumental in developing the Musuem’s pioneering Urban Advantage partnership and the Richard Gilder Graduate School’s groundbreaking Master of Arts in Teaching Earth Science residency program, the first and only free-standing, museum-based, degree-granting teacher education program in the nation, for which she served as co-director.
On October 1, 2018, the commencement ceremony celebrated six Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 16 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Jane Lubchenco with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
The 2018 doctoral graduates:
- Daniel Barta, dissertation: “Comparative anatomical, cladistic, and histological perspectives on dinosaur ontogeny”
- Allison Bronson, dissertation: “New approaches for ancient sharks: anatomy and morphology of fossil Chondrichthyans from North America”
- Spencer Galen, dissertation: “Evolutionary insights into the origins, diversification, transcriptomics, and within-host assembly of the avian malaria parasites (order Haemosporida)
- Anna Holden, dissertation: “Application of novel methods to study the Rancho La Brea’s tar pit insect fauna and enhance the discipline of quaternary entomology”
- Adolfo Lara, dissertation: “From the deep ocean to deep conscience: genomic cnidarian insights into the evolution of nervous systems”
- Rachel Welt, dissertation: “Sixty million years of solitude: the origin and diversification of Madagascar’s iguanas (family Opluridae)
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Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Elizabeth Backman, Adrian Baez-Alicea, Brittany Brown, Trevor Brown, Luc Charbonneau, Colleen Duda, Emmanuel Ekpu, Kristina Gustovich, Jillian McPherson, Michael Miller, Matthew Oxman, Lynette Pitcher, Lynsey Spaeth, Michael Supple, Darby Young, and Zixiang Zhang.
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Jane Lubchenco was recognized for her extraordinary contributions to science, education, and society. A marine biologist who served as Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from 2009 to 2013 and a distinguished university professor at Oregon State University, she cofounded three organizations that train scientists to be better communicators and to engage more effectively with the public, policy makers, media and industry.
On September 27, 2017, the commencement ceremony celebrated three Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 13 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Andrew H. Knoll with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, and Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman with degrees of Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
The 2017 doctoral graduates:
- Zachary Calamari, dissertation: “Investigating the homology of ruminant cranial appendages”
- Amber Paasch, dissertation: “Physiological and genomic characterization of phagocytosis in green algae”
- Michael Tessler, dissertation: “Advancing leeach comparative biology through methodological innovations”
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Chase Elliot Baldwin, Kristina Rose Coker, Deion A. Desir, Deborah Fishbeck, Donna Radha Gangadeen-Ramsahai, Aline Graziele Gjelaj, Lewis Nathan Jones, Alejandro Aminadab Mundo, Olivia Grace Nelson, Amanda Ruth Nowicki, Iliya Nadezhda Smithka, Nakita Gaetane Vanbiene, and Chelsea Alexandra Vasquez.
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Andrew Knoll is a paleontologist and leader in establishing the field of exobiology. A Harvard professor, curator of the paleobotanical collection at the Harvard University Botanical Museum for three decades, and an expert in the early evolution of life and Earth’s environmental history, he was a team member of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover mission. He has acted as advisor on many educational projects, including the Museum's Milstein Hall of Ocean Life. Honored as champions of science and science education, Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman, a Museum Trustee, helped create the Museum’s Ruth L. and David S. Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth as well as the Gottesman Center for Science Teaching and Learning, which focuses on teacher professional development.
On October 24, 2016, the commencement ceremony celebrated five Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 15 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Gilberto Silva Taboada with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, and John B. King, Jr., with the Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
The 2016 doctoral graduates were:
- Jonathan Foox, dissertation: “Phylogenomics and analytical workflows to elucidate the parasitic evolution of myxozoa”
- Stephanie Loria, dissertation: “Systematics of the scorpion family Chaerilidae, homology of the lateral eyes of scorpions, and biogeography of south-east asian scorpions”
- Lauren Oliver, dissertation: “Continental biogeography of the Hylarana frog (Anura: Ranidae) radiation, and in situ diversification in Australasia)
- Bernardo Santos, dissertation: “Systematics, morphological evolution and convergence in cryptine wasps (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae, Cryptinae)”
- Akinobu Watanabe, dissertation: “Variations on the theme of morphological characterization, development and evolution, featuring CT imaging, geometric morphometrics, phylogenetics and archosauria”
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program were Deisy Acevedo, Dejan Nada Božović, Rebecca Teresa Brosky, Hali Kristine Englert, Andrea Michelle Franco, Arthur William Funk Ii, Sean Timothy Krepski, Vernon Meidlinger, Maya Rebecca Pincus, Gregory Harrison Salwen, Raghida M. Sharif, Samantha Kelly Swift, Susan Bullock Sylvester, Kin Y. Tsoi, and Caitlin Tully.
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
The Museum also honored Gilberto Silva Taboada with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, and John B. King, Jr. with the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
Recognized for his distinguished career and extraordinary contributions to science, Silva Taboada, a world-renowned expert on Caribbean bats, collaborated with Museum scientists for decades, including as curator emeritus at the Cuban National Museum of Natural History.
United States Secretary of Education Dr. King previously served as New York State Commissioner of Education, a role in which he was instrumental in supporting and authorizing the Museum’s Master of Arts in Teaching program.
On October 5, 2015, the commencement ceremony celebrated four Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 14 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Mee-mann Chang with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
The 2015 doctoral graduates were:
- Phillip Barden, dissertation: “Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) through space, time, and sociality: a history from amber”
- Carly Melissa Tribull, dissertation: “Molecular and morphometric phylogenetics of Dryinidae and Bethylidae (Hymenoptera: Chrysidoidea)”
- Maria Eugenia Leone Gold, dissertation: “New insights on the evolution of flight in dinosaurs using novel CT and PET technology”
- André Luiz Gomes de Carvalho, dissertation: “Systematic revision of the lizards of the subfamily Tropidurinae (Tropiduridae) with special reference to Tropidurus Wied, 1825”
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Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program as Kathryn W. Davis Graduate Teaching Fellows were Sara Michelle Drotzer, Rebecca Michelle Eidelman, Meredith Elizabeth Fichman, Kevin Gostomski, William Daniel Hudacek, David-Anthony Mario Murray, Erin N. Richley, Avanel M. Riley, Daniel A. Rosenstein, Rebecca Marie Saunders, Jessica Ellyn Sharoff, Meg Elizabeth Stewart, Richard Allen Weiss, and Kathleen Mary Wilcox.
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A preeminent paleontologist, geologist and evolutionary biologist, Dr. Mee-mann Chang is research professor, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and professor, Peking University.
On October 27, 2014, the commencement ceremony celebrated four Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 16 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., and Edward O. Wilson, with the degrees Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
The 2014 doctoral graduates were:
- Alejandro Grajales, dissertation: "Morphological and molecular evolution of sea anemones as revealed by an emerging model organism: Aiptasia (Cnidaria: Actiniaria: Aiptasiidae)”
- Ansel Payne, dissertation: “Phylogenetic studies of apoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) with insights into the evolution of complex behaviors”
- Pedro Luiz Vieira del Peloso, dissertation: "Phylogeny, systematic review, and evolution of narrow-mouthed frogs (Anura, Microhylidae)”
- Dawn M. Roje, dissertation: “Molecules, morphology and monophyly: resolving flatfish (Pleuronectiformes) phylogeny and investigating why it has been so difficult to do”
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program as Kathryn W. Davis Graduate Teaching Fellows were Erin Harper Brown, Laura Renee Carver Dionne, Jaime Michelle Dipuppo, Kenneth Egri, Ariel Marie Goerl, Noah S. Kaminsky, Tamara Machac, Sarah Rebecca Marks, Robert Mckinley, Cynthia S. Montalvo, Allison Lee-Ann Platsky, Steven Riccio, Leah M. Roberts, Zachary Joseph Trunkely, Wanda Vargas, and Edward Yany.
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Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., is a business leader, advocate for science, technology, and education, and a philanthropist. Retired chairman and CEO of IBM, he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and chairman of The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He established the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and, at the Museum, created the Gerstner Scholars program for early-career biologists.
Biologist Edward O. Wilson, familiar to many for his work on the social behavior in ants, significantly advanced the field of biology and built bridges between science and humanity. In his career as a researcher, academic, author, and public figure, he has been honored with more than 150 awards and honors, including two Pulitzer Prizes. He is University Research Professor Emeritus, Harvard University, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a unparalleled advocate for conservation.
On September 30, 2013, the commencement ceremony celebrated seven Ph.D. graduates from the Comparative Biology program and 20 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) graduates. The Museum also honored Dame Alison F. Richard with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa.
The inaugural doctoral graduates were:
- Sebastian Kvist, dissertation: “A phylogenomic perspective on annelid evolution with emphasis on the evolution of bloodfeeding in leeches (Clitellata: Hirudinida)”
- Shaena A. Montanari, dissertation: “Paleobiology, paleoecology, and morphology of vertebrates: new approaches to old questions”
- Antonia M. Florio, dissertation: “Comparative phylogeography of widespread Furcifer chameleons in Madagascar”
- Bryan G. Falk, dissertation: “Diversification of malaria and pinworm parasites in Caribbean Anolis lizards”
- Isabelle M. Vea, dissertation: “A time scale for scales: reconciling neontology and paleontology in Coccoidea (Hemiptera)”
- John S. S. Denton, dissertation: “Evolution and diversification of myctophiform fishes with applications to phylogenetic methodology”
- Edward L. Stanley, dissertation: “Systematics and morphological diversification of the Cordylidae (Squamata)
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Graduating from the Museum’s MAT in Earth Science residency program as Kathryn W. Davis Graduate Teaching Fellows were Wilfrid Beauzile, Duncan Blair, John P. Clark, Karl C. Clarke, Christopher M. Cubelo, Jasmine Cheriche DeCosta, Lisa D. Hlinka, Victoria P. Jones, Kristen E. LaPenta, Christine Lee, Tyler Lyons, Sean P. McFadden, Andrew O. Nesheim, Bart F. Piscitello, John Joseph Rowitt, Reid J. Sherman, Melissa Shumer, Yevgeniy Viderman, Catherine Warner, and Todd R. Whelan, who had already started the school year as teachers in New York State schools, part of their commitment to teach in high-need schools in the state for four years after completing the program.
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Dame Alison F. Richard was honored for her extraordinary contributions to advancing science, enhancing education, and promoting conservation. She expanded understanding of the evolution of complex social systems among primates, most notably the socio-ecology of lemurs in Madagascar. Appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire in 2010 for her service to higher education, she is Crosby Professor Emerita and former Provost, Yale University, and Vice-Chancellor Emerita, University of Cambridge.
Inaugural Convocation
Denis Finnin/© AMNH
On January 15, 2009, the Museum held the first convocation ceremony of the Richard Gilder Graduate School and officially celebrated its historic inaugural academic year as the only museum in the United States with the authority to award its own Ph.D. degree.
Welcomed into the inaugural class were Zachary Baldwin, Bryan Falk, Antonio Florio, Sebastian Kvist, and Shaena Montanari.
The Museum also honored Rita R. Colwell, Ph.D., with the degree Doctor of Science, Honoris Causa, and Richard Gilder, the namesake of the school, with the degree Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa.
Dr. Colwell is an influential scientist and productive researcher whose impact has been felt in the scientific community and throughout society at large. With degrees in bacteriology, genetics, and oceanography, she serves as Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland and John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and has held faculty positions at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. She is the first woman and first organismal biologist to lead the National Science Foundation as director from 1998 to 2004. She is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Gilder, a native and lifelong New Yorker, philanthropist, and intellectual and financial leader of the Museum, founded R. Gilder and Co., a highly successful and admired brokerage firm, now known as Gilder Gagnon Howe & Co. LLC. A 1954 Yale College graduate in history, he worked with Lewis Lehrman to create the Gilder Lehrman Collection, making accessible to the public the largest collection of documents related to U.S. history ever gathered by private citizens. He founded the Central Park Community Fund in 1974, and, in 1980, became a founding trustee of the Central Park Conservancy. As a Museum Trustee and benefactor with a passion for scientific discovery and institutional advancement, he supported a new, cutting-edge, world-class planetarium facility and enabled the Museum to become the first in the United States authorized to grant the Ph.D., in honor of which the Museum was proud to name the Richard Gilder Graduate School.
*Commencement was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Museum expresses its utmost appreciation to Richard Gilder, a steadfast and most generous benefactor and friend whose visionary philanthropy enabled the Museum to establish the Richard Gilder Graduate School.
Additional support for the Richard Gilder Graduate School has been generously provided by the Hess Foundation, Inc.; an anonymous Museum Trustee; the City of New York; Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., Gerstner Family Foundation; and the Annette Kade Charitable Trust. The MAT program has received generous founding support from Museum donor Kathryn W. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.