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Are you interested in working with our awesome team, or do you know someone who might be? We have a job opening for a Visiting Assistant Professor/Instructor position. Prospective applicants can view the full details on the position duties and qualifications and apply directly from this link.

A night of music for CECCOT and New York birders

A night of music took place recently in NYC, and current AIP student Cara Stofa produced, hosted, and performed at the event, called Songs of Nature: An Eco-Cabaret. Stofa was joined by nature lovers, conservationists, and artists for the event, which benefitted NYC Bird Alliance and the Centro de Educacion, Ciencia y Conservacion Tambopata (CECCOT), our partner that focuses on science education and preserving the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. CECCOT was home base for Stofa and her classmates for the EE Amazon course last summer. Stofa, whose AIP experiential learning occurs at the Bronx Zoo and at locations in New York, integrated the EE into her AIP degree path.

Caring for rescued orphan rhinos in South Africa

GFP student Jacqueline Contino of Los Angeles, California, has conducted field study at the Zululand Rhino Orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Her research explored the impacts of zoo enrichment on orphan rhinos in South Africa. This was the first step in her mission to standardize enrichment strategies for rhino orphanages to increase each orphan's chances of success upon reintroduction to the wild. Contino will be presenting her research next month at the International Rhino Keeper Association Rhino Keeper Workshop 2025.

Life as a Miami online student presents (some challenges and) rewards, especially when support systems are in place

Life as a Miami online graduate student presents unique challenges, but the rewards are significant. Just ask current GFP student Aurelia Valente, who was recently interviewed by Miami University Online. "I love the [Global Field] program so much. It’s been an important source of growth." For Valente, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the flexibility of being online fits her busy schedule, and she emphasizes that online education can provide a transformative experience when support systems are in place. Read more

Grad's work adorns front covers and pages of two international journals

Last fall AIP graduate Bryan Kao '24 of Bronx, New York, traveled to the Taipei Zoo in Taipei, Taiwan, and also to Iguanaland in the southwestern Florida town of Punta Gorda. And the resulting photos are on the covers of two international journals. Kao shares his experiences and photography work in the journals, Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News and the Responsible Herpetoculture Journal. Kao's photos are of an Asian black bear and a rare Sister Isles Iguana. Read more

Graduation celebration at Brookfield Zoo Chicago 

In March, members of the Oxford Dragonfly team joined Brookfield Zoo Chicago (BZC) AIP advisor Agnes Kovacs (pictured above, center, surrounded by AIP graduates), BZC staff, graduates, their families, and Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Vice President Kevin Conley at the AIP graduation celebration in Chicago, Illinois.

Pictured below from left: Dragonfly's Katie Feilen, Kevin Matteson, Kovacs, Jill Korach, Amy Sullivan, and Conley.

Graduation celebration at Missouri Botanical Garden

Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) recently held a graduation celebration for its soon-to-be May graduates. AIP advisor Susan Baron, MBG staff, graduates, their families, and other Dragonflies attended the special event. 

Dragonfly promotions and academic advancements

Congratulations to these esteemed colleagues on their recent accomplishments. 

Laura Abondano has accepted the Assistant Teaching Professor position with the Department of Biology and Project Dragonfly. She is a Colombian primatologist and conservationist, researching and advocating for the protection of tropical biodiversity in South America. Abondano, who has been with Dragonfly since 2022, will instruct the EE course in Costa Rica this summer.

Amy Sullivan has been promoted to Associate Teaching Professor. During her three years as an Assistant Teaching Professor, she taught 16 distinct courses and educated 1,092 students in 34 classes. She also instructs the Mongolia EE course. Sullivan earned her Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolution from the University of Illinois Chicago where her dissertation work focused on vole foraging and how it affects tallgrass prairie remnants and restorations. 

This month Dave Johnston successfully defended his Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Teacher Development from Montclair State University. At the Wildlife Conservation Society, Johnston is the Director of Professional Development and serves as an advisor/facilitator for the AIP. Johnston also works with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums on the instructional team for the Conservation Learning Professional Development courses and with Dragonfly as a Community Learning Leader for EE. This summer he and Sullivan will co-instruct the EE Mongolia course.

Golden lion tamarins “take over” Miami with Brazil partner Luís Paulo Ferraz visit

Golden lion tamarins (GLT) “took over” Miami's campus in early April, with a GLT (digitally superimposed) in the center of campus at the University Seal, to celebrate AMLD-Dragonfly Day in Oxford. EE Brazil partner Luís Paulo Ferraz, who leads conservation for Associação Mico Leão Dourado (AMLD), traveled from Brazil to share the important conservation work of AMLD, a Brazilian non-profit organization that has played a central role in GLT conservation in the Atlantic Forests outside Rio de Janeiro. He met with the Project Dragonfly team, taught a class with biology and anthropology undergraduate students, and presented at the Miami University Department of Biology Seminar series. Ferraz also presented as part of the Cincinnati Zoo's Barrows Conservation Lecture series and spent several days with the team at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

We recently learned that Ferraz and his team at AMLD successfully appealed to the Ministry of Environment about a proposed train track route slated to go through the already-preserved GLT habitat. The Ministry has agreed to alter the route so the track will not go through the habitat. What an inspiration to see this turn of events!

Employee spotlight: We're lucky to have Spencer Pate!

Many of you are probably familiar with Dragonfly's Spencer Pate. Aside from being this month's contributing writer (see his note above), he serves as Dragonfly's main registrar, getting students registered for their courses. He also helps manage aspects of our recruiting efforts and focuses on data analysis and evaluation and instructional support.

Pate earned his bachelor’s degree in middle childhood education (with concentrations in math and science) from Miami University in 2011, and he received his master’s degree in transformative education from Miami in 2015. After three years of serving as a substitute teacher, he began working at Project Dragonfly in 2014. In his free time Spencer enjoys reading, writing, cooking, and taking his cat Squeaky (pictured above) for walks outside.

Call for Abstracts: Anthrozoology as International Practice, an Online Student Conference

Dragonfly Visiting Assistant Professor Michelle Szydlowski, co-founder of the annual Anthrozoology as International Practice (AIP) conference, is slated to help lead this year's online conference September 12-13, 2025. The conference is for students interested in the study of human relationships with other animals.

The #AIP2025 student conference is free and provides an opportunity for first-time presenters, including undergraduate and master’s students, to share 15-minute talks on their research. The call for papers and presentations is open through June 16, 2025. Selection criteria will consider career stages. Examples of previous abstracts are located on the AIP conference website.

Dragonfly and Hefner Museum team up for botany lecture

Earlier this month Dragonfly and our friends at the Hefner Museum of Natural History teamed up for Miami’s Roger Wilson Lecture in Botany featuring Dr. Andrew Barton, a professor of biology at the University of Maine at Farmington who presented on the “Return of the Pyrocene: Wildfires in Your Backyard!” Dragonfly provided tech support. Watch the livestream