Back in the NYT ...

What an exciting few days here in the Chipojo Lab. Dr. Alex Gunderson (as you can see in the post below) successfully defended his dissertation on Friday . . . 

And now Manuel Leal is back in the New York Times!

A view inside the lizard chamber.

The lab is extremely excited that our research have been featured in the Science Section of the New York Times for a THIRD time! That says a lot about the ability of our work to interest a general audience, something that we take very seriously and are especially proud of.

Manuel Leal and Brian Powell's study on behavioral flexibility in Anolis evermanni is featured in an article on reptile cognition. You can read more about the research or watch a short video that discusses the work here. For those of you too lazy to click the link, I've included a magnificent photo of El Jefe below. CONGRATS!!!!

FELICIDADES

Please welcome the newly minted Dr. Alexander "Alejandro" Gunderson. Alejandro has successfully defended his dissertation work on thermal ecology in anoles.

Alex and Dave pouring champagne to begin the celebration 

This is a bittersweet moment for the Chipojo Lab. I am extremely happy that Alex was able to complete an ambitious project, one that I am certain will have a major impact on the methods that are currently used to predict the effects of global warming. To be clear, this is not a "proud" advisor blowing "hot air" about his graduate student. If you don’t believe me, please take a minute to read three of the papers that are already published and formed the core of Alex's dissertation. (Alex’s fourth chapter is currently under review in American Naturalist.) Yes, this is not a typo, three out of the four chapters of Alex's dissertation are already published, including a paper in Functional Ecology and another in American Naturalist.

Dr. Gunderson!!!!!!!!!  

We are going to miss Alex. For my part, Alex is my second graduate student, which means that I am still trying to figure out my "job" as an advisor. However, I feel very lucky, because having Alex as a student made advising a walk in the park and extremely rewarding. My only job was to keep him humble. FELICIDADES ALEJANDRO