Description: Dr. Jennifer Whitten, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies of the National Air & Space Museum, studies radar data to understand the surface geology of Venus, Mars, and the Moon. #Groundbreaker
Description: Biologist and curator of mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, Viola Shelly Schantz was one of the founding members of the American Society of Mammalogists and one of the premier mammalogists of her day. #Groundbreaker
Description: Biological anthropologist Dr. Habiba Chirchir, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, researches the evolution of human and non-human primate bone density patterns to ascertain whether there are unique patterns of trabecular bone density among closely related species. #Groundbreaker
Description: The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's Rachel Page studies predator/prey interactions, the sensory and cognitive ecology of foraging, and the effect of eavesdroppers on the evolution of their sexually advertising prey. #Groundbreaker
Description: Biologist Dr. Annette Aiello, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, manages the Institute's insect collections and researches the strategies insects use to thrive in tropical environments. #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Jun Wen, botanist, evolutionary biologist and research curator, National Museum of Natural History, is an expert on the systematics and biogeography of the ginseng family (Araliaceae) and the grape family (Vitaceae). #Groundbreaker
Description: Dr. Nancy Knowlton, Marine Scientist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History researches the ecology and evolution of coral reefs using molecular genetics, field studies, and mathematical modeling. #Groundbreaker
Description: Botanist and suffragette, Mary Agnes Chase, led the Smithsonian's Herbarium, was the eminent expert on grasses, and at the age of 93, published a 3-volume index of U.S. grasses with over 80,000 species. #Groundbreaker
Description: Materials scientist Dr. Odile Madden, Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute, studies the role of polymer-plasticizer interaction in plastic degradation and the characterization and reverse engineering of historic plastic artifacts. #Groundbreaker