Dr. Ray Willis

Ray is an Associate Professor of Biology at Midwestern State University and the curator of the Dalquest Vertebrate Collection. He received his bachelor’s and master’s of science from Tarleton State University and his PhD from Texas Tech University. At MSU, he teaches a variety of courses including Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates, Mammalogy, Evolution and Systematics, Genetics, and Herpetology. His current research is conducted at the Dalquest Research Station located on the northeastern border of Big Bend Ranch State Park, and includes both herpetological and mammalian surveys.

Dr. Jessica Healy-LaPrice

Jessica is Associate Professor of Biology at Austin College, a private liberal arts college north of Dallas near the Oklahoma border.  She received her BA from Central College in Pella, Iowa in 2005, and her PhD in Zoology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO in 2010. After a brief post-doc in reproductive endocrinology at University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix, she moved to Texas to begin work at Austin College in 2012. At Austin College, she teaches a variety of courses, including Mammalogy, Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy, Physiological Ecology, Extreme Physiology, and others, as well as mentoring undergraduate students in research. Research topics include regulation of energy balance in hibernating ground squirrels, and the effects of small mammals on prairie restoration.

Dr. Joel Brant

Joel is a professor of biology at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. Joel earned his PhD from Texas Tech University and is broadly interested in the natural history of mammals in Texas. Current research projects tend to focus on the population ecology of small mammals around Abilene and the community ecology of rodents and bats in the Southern Rolling Plains of Texas.

Dr. Tom Lee

Tom moved to Abilene, Texas, in 1994 and is currently Professor and Chair of the Biology department at Abilene Christian University. Tom obtained a B.S. from Texas A&M University in 1984, M.S. from Angelo State University in 1987 under the direction of Mark D. Engstrom, and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in 1992 under the direction of John W. Bickham. His research interests are in mammalian biogeography and systematics of Ecuador. He has conducted eleven field trips to Ecuador, most of these trips have been in the high Andes. His other research interests include heteromyid rodents and pronghorn of the Chihuahuan Desert. He has served the Texas Society of Mammalogists in several ways: he was chair of the Honorary Membership Committee (1999-2004), Permanent Secretary (1999-2005), and President (2005-2006).

Dr. Michelle Haynie

Michelle is a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma. She obtained her B.S. and M.S. in zoology from Oklahoma State University, and her Ph.D. in biology from Texas Tech University. She teaches Biology for Majors - Principles, Evolution, Population Genetics, and Integrative Biology. Her research interests lie in mammalian population genetics and molecular systematics. Current projects include an assessment of bobcat genetic diversity in Oklahoma and a mark-recapture survey of small mammals in the gypsum hills of western Oklahoma.