Cristina Campbell Dept. of Biological Sciences University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, Texas 79968

Biographic Information

I am presently an undergraduate student expecting to graduate in the summer of 2006 and have been fortunate enough to have received research experience in an array of biological areas while an undergraduate. As a freshman and sophomore, I worked as an assistant restoration ecologist at our local desert Rio Bosque Wetlands Park. I am a member of the UTEP chapter of the ESA (Ecological Society of America) and have had the pleasure and opportunity to have been exposed to fellow up-and-coming biologists, community events, and field trips. I am also a member of the Student Conservation Association and, in the summer of 2005, was fortunate enough to have been able to take part in an internship with a graduate research student in which I aided in the examination of survival rates in Brown Pelican chicks in declining populations off the coast of South Carolina. My current project has to do with revising the overlooked ant genus Xenomyrmex. I look forward to a great career in the exciting field of biology and intend to capitalize fully on all I've been exposed to thus far.

Although I love the desert region, I'm eager to get my feet wet (pun fully intended) in the marine world. After I attain my bachelors degree, I hope to pursue a graduate degree in the marine science. My dream is to pursue a career in research dealing with marine ecology with the hopes of working with marine mammals and the invertebrate class of cephalopods as my areas of expertise.

Research:

My current research involves the revision of the ant genus Xenomyrmex. This is a small, conspicuous, arboreal ant that is, as of now, understudied. I hope to complete a useful identification key of the genus with descriptions to species, which will include both drawings and distribution maps. I also aim to use systematics to investigate phylogeny or hypotheses on this ant's evolutionary history. This will contribute to the growing interest in the insect world and the array of studied and unstudied insects of which ants comprise a large part.