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Lake Forest, Ill. - Dr. Eric Rickart, curator with the Utah Museum of Natural History, will deliver a public lecture at Lake Forest College on Thursday, October 22 at 4:15 pm. Dr. Rickart’s presentation, aimed at a general audience, is titled “Using Museum Records to Track Recent Biotic Change: An 80-year resurvey of small mammals in the Ruby Mountains, Nevada.” It will be held in Meyer Auditorium, Hotchkiss Hall, on the College’s Middle Campus.

The public is welcome to attend free of charge. A pre-seminar reception will be held at 4:00 p.m. Please call 847-234-3100 for more information.

Rickart also serves as an adjunct assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah. He received his B.S. and M.A from the University of Kansas, and his PhD in biology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He subsequently became the Curator of Vertebrates at the Utah Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake City.

His research focuses on the origin and maintenance of patterns of biological diversity in both the American west and in the Philippine Islands. Additionally, his research team tracks changes in diversity through time, positing various aspects of human and climatic interactions as purveyors of diversity changes. Rickart is a wide-ranging researcher, having published over 50 scientific articles on topics ranging from fossil lizards to rodent geographic distributions to naming several new species of mammals.

As recognition of his work in the Philippines, Dr. Rickart has a species of fruit bat named after him.

Rickart has also served on numerous committees for the American Society of Mammalogists and as a member in many other organizations, including Society for Conservation Biology, Society for Marine Mammalogy, and Association for Tropical Biology. Also, he has been an associate editor for the Journal of Mammalogy as well as Mammalian Species. Furthermore, Rickart has served as a reviewer for numerous biological publications including American Naturalist, Journal of Tropical Ecology, and Systematic Biology.

The event, part of the Department of Biology's Life Science Seminar Series is co-sponsored by the Biology Department and the College's Center for Chicago Programs.

View the entire Fall 2009 Biology Department seminar series.

Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has 1,400 students representing 45 states and 69 countries.

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