​Enrique Santoyo-Brito - Herpetology and Vertebrate Collections

We are always excited to welcome new volunteers who share an interest in natural history collections! Whether you are looking to learn, gain hands-on experience, or explore your curiosity, we w love to hear from you. Please reach out!

 

 

​Current Volunteers

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​Arianna N. Barajas (Fall 2026 to date). Master's Student; Population and Community Ecology Lab (PACE Lab), INHS-UIUC. Tissue Collection Inventory and Reorganization. The INHS Frozen Tissue Collection is a critical resource that supports biodiversity research, systematics, genomics, conservation, and other specimen-based studies. To improve the accuracy, accessibility, and long-term preservation of these holdings, this project will conduct a comprehensive inventory and reorganization of the tissue collection. The project will begin with a thorough review of collection records in the database, including verifying tissue information, confirming vial availability, identifying tissue types, and validating storage locations and box numbers. Database records will be updated to ensure that specimen metadata accurately reflects the physical collection. A parallel effort will focus on the physical organization of the tissue collection. Activities will include replacing damaged storage boxes and lids, relabeling boxes as needed, reorganizing vials to match standardized box numbering systems, shifting racks to optimize storage space, and updating vial location maps. These improvements will ensure that specimens can be efficiently located and tracked while minimizing the risk of data loss or misplaced samples. By integrating database verification with collection reorganization, this project will enhance the quality, usability, and long-term stewardship of the INHS Tissue Collection, facilitating future research and improving collection management practices.

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Braden C. Stehl (Fall 2026 to date). Junior majoring in Integrative Biology at UIUC. Branden helps us curate the INHS Fish Collection by verifying catalog numbers and the physical condition of thousands of fish lots by topping them off and replacing damaged lids and gaskets as needed.
 

Camille Flowers: Master Naturalist (Spring 2026 to date). Camille helps us curate the INHS Fish Collection by verifying catalog numbers and visually assessing the physical condition of thousands of fish lots.

Katrina Theisen (Spring 2026 to date): Master's student in the Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at UIUC. Katrina is updating the INHS Herpetology Collection database by starting an inventory of wet-preserved specimens, assessing their physical condition, and splitting crammed jars. This fall semester, she completed the physical assessment of the Crayfish Collection. She verified the condition of thousands of jars containing crayfish and shrimp. Additionally, she helped inventory the dry specimens in the herpetology collection. These specimens needed a short description, which consisted of identifying whether the specimen contained axial and/or appendicular bones, whether the specimen was articulated or mummified, whether the specimen was complete or incomplete, and whether the specimen contained other items such as shells, eggs, or skin. This descriptive data will help future researchers quickly reference the online database to see which specimens to request. "It has been exciting to open up each of these boxes and see all of these unique specimens, including a perfectly preserved sea turtle, pink and green dyed bones, and a tiny chameleon mummy!"

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Past Volunteers

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Emma White: Helped us curate the INHS Fish Collection by sorting lots and placing them in chronological order, and visually assessing the physical condition of thousands of fish lots.

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Olivia Baima: Helped with the collections from 2023 to 2026. She gained experience in wet collections, including fish, herpetology, and crustacean collections. Additionally, she helped inventory the skins in the INHS Bird Collection. Olivia graduated with a degree in Integrative Biology at UIUC. She is currently a Master's student at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.

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