Mentors in natural history

James McDonald Grayson, former Chairman of the Department of Entomology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, introduced me as a teenager to entomology during several summers at Nature Camp. At the same camp, Charles V. Covell, Jr., who would later write A Field Guide to the Moths of Eastern North America (A Peterson Field Guide), inspired me to focus on moths. William F. Zimmerman, my thesis advisor at Amherst College and an expert on biological clocks, collaborated with me studying how different wavelengths of light shift a circadian rhythm. Lincoln P. Brower, also at Amherst College, took me on as his research assistant studying mimicry in butterflies during two summers of field work at the William Beebe Tropical Research Station in Trinidad. He instilled in me a love of natural history. At the same time John Alcock––who then was conducting research under Professor Brower and who would become a renowned behavioral ecologist––gave me a close up view of his experimental study of bird behavior. Robert L. Edwards, my late father-in-law and former chief of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries’ Laboratory in Woods Hole, mentored me in arachnology, his avocational specialty. Over the past decade, David A. Hewitt, research associate at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, nurtured my interest in botany and urban ecology.

Much mentoring has been informal, supported by fellow members of the American Entomological Society, Philadelphia Botanical Club, and Delaware Valley Ornithological Club. Staff members of the The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University have graciously offered their expertise whenever I sought consultation.