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Meet Museum Director Bill DeWalt
By R. Jay Gangewere
The new director of Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Bill
DeWalt, Ph.D., has had a distinguished career at the University of Pittsburgh
since 1993 as an anthropologist and director for its Center for Latin
American Studies.
"Our research was a global one, but we couldn't be
more pleased that it ended right here in Pittsburgh, with Bill DeWalt,"
said Dr. Ellsworth H. Brown, president of Carnegie Museums of
Pittsburgh. "Bill has it
all--administrative experience, success as a fundraiser, a strong commitment
to scientific research and discovery, and the enthusiasm and creativity that
are so crucial to advancing the mission of this wonderful institution."
As director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center for
Latin American Studies since 1993, DeWalt has increased the Center's
endowment from $700,000 to more than $6 million. He expanded the Center's
K-12 outreach program, established a new graduate certificate program in
Latin American Social and Public Policy, built strong relationships with
Latin American embassies, international conservation programs, and with the
private and public sectors, including Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh.
Born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, and raised in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, DeWalt earned his BA in
Sociology and Anthropology from the University of Connecticut, and in 1977
began a 15-year academic career at the University of Kentucky, where he was
chair of the department of Anthropology and director of the Latin American
Studies program, before moving to Pittsburgh. DeWalt remains a Distinguished Service Professor at the
university, which enables him to approach universities as a peer when
exploring new relationships between academia and the museums.
When asked what philosophy should guide a natural history
museum, De Walt says: "I think
it has two main scientific charters: ecology and evolution. We’re here to help people understand
biodiversity and cultural diversity as they are revealed throughout history
and ongoing scientific research. When
someone visits a natural history museum,
they should walk away with a better understanding of the diversity of
our natural and human resources."
He is committed to preserving the museum's
collections. "Every educational
and scientific institution needs a strong library, and that’s how I view the
museum’s collections: as a valuable library of scientific research and
knowledge that is the heart and soul of the institution."
Regarding the role of technology, DeWalt says, "It
makes the collections more accessible to a larger public. With the help of technology, we can, in
effect, turn the museum inside out and really let the world see what’s
inside. That’s the greatest purpose
for technology. "Technology is
also a means for us to mount and change exhibits more frequently, which is so
important in the programming side of a museum’s charter. And let’s not forget that we’re a
multi-cultural and multi-lingual society; technology can and should be used
to help us convert more of our programs and exhibits to different languages.
"I’ll listen to people who have given their lives to
the museum and, in doing so, I’ll learn about Carnegie Museum of Natural
History—where it is, and where it still needs to go."
Click on the image
for a larger version.
You are what you eat with
A new idea about the evolution of mammals keeps Carnegie Museum of
Natural History at the frontier of research
You are what you eat with--that's the way biologists who
study mammals see it. Your mammalian
teeth reveal not only your diet, but also your place on the ancestral tree.
In a recent issue of NATURE
(January 2001), Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist Zhexi
Luo, along with two international colleagues, took a bite out of the standard
theory of evolution of mammalian teeth.
They proposed that the specialized cutting and grinding teeth of earliest
mammals evolved not once, but twice,
160 to 110 million years ago, in the Mesozoic Era, when today's
continents were clustered in two land
masses--Laurasia, in the northern hemisphere, and Gondwana in the south.
In both places, say Luo and his fellow scientists,
ancestral mammals developed specialized teeth called "tribosphenic
molars" for cutting and grinding food.
"Tribo" is Greek for cutting, and "sphenic" is
Greek for grinding. The earliest
mammals that had these teeth, could cut their food and grind it for
digestion, enabling them to develop more omnivorous feeding. Tribosphenic teeth are a key development
that enabled marsupials (which carry their young in pouches, like opossums)
and placentals (which bear their young internally, within a placenta, like
dogs and cats), to thrive after the extinction of dinosaurs.
The earliest "for cutting only" teeth let
mammals slice up tiny and fragile insects, but did not let them crush tougher
food or chew plants. The tribosphenic molar lets the animal pulverize food
because a cusp on the upper tooth fits like a pestle into the mortar-like
basin of the lower tooth. This action enabled animals to crush seeds and pulp
fruit, and to grind up leaves--in effect, to become more successful and,
therefore, to diversify throughout the world.
For decades paleontologists thought that because
tribosphenic teeth were so unique and structurally intricate, they must have
evolved from a single origin in the Mesozoic time. But now Drs. Luo, Cifelli,
and Kielan-Jaworowska demonstrate that tribosphenic molars evolved twice in
the Mesozoic time, in both the northern and southern clans of animals that
lived on two different land masses.
"To have it evolve once was good, but to have it
evolve twice is even better, because of the currently available
evidence," says Luo. Such discoveries keep Carnegie Museum of Natural
History scientists at the frontier of
the theory of evolution.
Awards for two Outstanding Mineralogists
The Carnegie Mineralogical Award for the year 2000 was
given to distinguished collector and philanthropist Dr. F. John Barlow at the
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show on February 10, 2001. Created in 1990 at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the
award focuses on specimen mineralogy and is internationally prestigious. The list of past winners reads like a
who's who in the world of mineralogy.
Dr. Barlow is associated with the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh,
and for 30 years has generously shared his knowledge and outstanding specimen
collection with students and fellow mineralogists.
Marc Wilson, head of the section of Minerals and Gems at
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, also received an award from the AFMS
Scholarship Foundation, Inc., in recognition of his public service. Representing the Eastern Federation of
Mineralogical and Lapidary Societies, Wilson has the opportunity to select
two outstanding graduate students in mineralogy to receive funding for their
studies for two years, at a rate of
$2,000 per year. Wilson said,
"This annual award means a great deal to me because it comes from the
public that I serve."
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