Shahan Derkarabetian Ph.D., Curator of Entomology

Shahan comes to The Nat from Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, where he served as a post-doctoral fellow with a focus on the arachnid lineage Opiliones (harvesters, harvestmen, daddy-long-legs). He integrated genomics and collections-based research, and developed new molecular techniques to sequence 100+ year-old museum specimens.

He earned his Ph.D. through the joint doctoral program between UC Riverside and SDSU, studying phylogenomics, integrative taxonomy, and population genomics of Opiliones. Shahan often incorporates iNaturalist data into his research and collaborates with community scientists on research projects and publications.

Pamela Horsley, Entomology Collection Manager & Collections Registrar

Pamela Horsley happily returned to The Nat as Entomology Collection Manager and Collections Registrar in 2020. She previously worked at the museum from 2009-2012 as part of a National Science Foundation Improvements to Biological Collections grant to curate and increase the accessibility of the entomology collection.

Pamela has more than 15 years of experience working in collections management and museum registration and has a keen interest in the best practices and management of pinned, slide, and fluid-preserved invertebrate collections. She earned her M.S. in entomology from McGill University studying the systematics of central American weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Her duties include general curation, coordination and management of museum-wide collection transactions and compliance, collection digitization and database management, supervision of department science volunteers and project staff, and whenever possible joins in to conduct fieldwork for the museum. Pamela can be reached at 619.255.0193 or by using our contact form under "Research".

Christiana Mojica

Entomology Project Coordinator

Eva Horna Lowell

Entomologist

Ellie Deer

Entomology Technician

Rachel Allingham

Entomology Technician