ENHS Nature Trails February 2004 Article 1

This month's speaker: Dr. Peter Wetherwax

I'm breathless reading the breadth and depth of Dr. Wetherwax's experiences and accomplishments. His talk will be fascinating, especially for those of us approaching our dotage, as we are taken back to the joys of youthful discovery, along with the joys of a prescient mentor. Here's his story:

Although I grew up in a big city, Burbank, [just north, northwest of LA] my house was only 1/2 block from the mountains. I spent a large part of my childhood roaming around in the hills, hiking and catching any animals that I could. I had great enthusiasm for these adventures, thus knew from a very early age that I wanted to become a scientist. I remember giving chemistry magic shows for all of the kids on the block. I was fortunate that my parents were encouraging by providing me with a chemistry set and a microscope.

FROM MAGIC SHOWS TO MUSIC SHOWS
My father is a professional musician and my mother a painter so art and music were a big part of our life. When I was about seven, my father started a kids' band called The Reflectors. Three of the members were his sons. I played my first professional gig at age seven and continued to play professionally until I started working on my PhD. Our band  was very popular in Burbank. This was during the time when Johnny Carson and Laugh-In were poking fun at Burbank, calling it "Beautiful Downtown Burbank." The city made up bumper stickers that said: Visit Beautiful Downtown Burbank: Home of the Reflectors.

A D GRADE GIVES DIRECTION
Although music has been, and will continue to be a huge part of my life, I have always known that someday I would become a scientist. I started out as a biochemistry major at UCLA. I really didn't know what biochemistry was, but I had some idea that it was becoming an important field. I soon realized that I liked biology much more than chemistry. (The only D I have ever received was in my biochemistry course which was taught by Paul Boyer, who recently won the Nobel Prize in chemistry.)

While an undergraduate at UCLA, I took a course called "Field Biology Quarter." It was a 16 unit course, comprising ones complete schedule of classes for the given quarter. During the first half of the quarter we went to Baja California for about three weeks and did independent research projects. I did a project on several hummingbird pollinated plants found in the area. I fell in love with ecology, fieldwork and pollination biology and have done research in that field ever since.
 
 GIGS AT THE PODIUM, GIGS ON THE STAGE
After UCLA I played music for a few years and then earned a Master's degree at Humboldt State University. Several things happened to me at Humboldt. I discovered the wonders of the Northwest and a love for teaching. I received a license to teach biology and taught high school biology in LA for a couple years while playing gigs on the weekends. I eventually moved to Oregon and received a PhD from Oregon State University.
 
 During my PhD studies I hooked up with several biology faculty members at the U of O who were working on improving the teaching of biology to nonmajors. We developed a program called Workshop Biology that became fairly well known among people interested in teaching reform at the undergraduate level. I started teaching courses at the U of O while a graduate student at OSU. When I graduated in 1993 I was hired full time and have been there ever since.

WHEN HOBBY, EDUCATION AND INNER DRIVE COALESCE
I made my first visit to Latin America about 10 years ago. I am a birder (a hiker, a backpacker and a canoeist too) and wanted to see the wonderful birds in Costa Rica. Since then I have gone to various Latin American countries two or three times per year (Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Ecuador).A couple of years ago I decided to try to start something like the Field Biology Quarter course I took at UCLA. I realized how huge that experience was for the students that took it. It was the single most influential thing I did as an undergraduate and most of my classmates were equally inspired. I wanted to combine a course that would immerse students in field work and at the same time introduce them to the wonders of the neotropics. I had visited Ecuador several times and had gotten to know several scientist and guides in Ecuador and knew of some incredible field stations that would be wonderful places to take students.

AN INCREDIBLE CLASSROOM
 I have now run the Neotropical Ecology Program for two summers, and I'm currently accepting applications for next summer's course. Both years have been wonderful experiences, for me and the students. I feel that there is nothing I have done as a teacher that has impacted students' lives more than this program. It's hard to fail as a teacher in such an incredible classroom.

WHAT WILL WE HEAR ABOUT FRIDAY NIGHT?
 I want to share my experience teaching Neotropical Ecology in Ecuador the last two summers. Through photos, video and stories I will take you on a journey with UO students. We will visit high elevation paramo*, middle elevation cloud forest, terra firma forest in the Amazon basin and flooded blackwater forest (igapo) in the Amazon basin. During the journey you will hear about the biodiversity of Ecuador, the loss of biodiversity due to oil exploration and the thrill of experiential learning.

*paramo - "In colloquial Spanish paramo means cold-wet, deserted, foggy and waste land located at a high altitude. This image was perpetuated by Spanish colonialists when they arrived in the Americas...Their disregard of the paramo has over time let [d] to erroneous damaging land policies even to this days." http://ibit.if.pw.edu.pl/paramo.htm

Dr. Wetherwax was given the:
~"Williams Counsel Award" in 2001-2002, funding a Neotropical Ecology course.
 ~The "Outstanding Biology Teacher Award," UO Department of Biology 1997 and 2003
 ~The "Outstanding Biology Graduate Teaching Fellow Award," UO Department of Biology 1989
 ~And 4 times he received an Aspen Music Fellowship from 1977-1980, Aspen Music School. (Maybe he'll play for us Friday night as well.)
 

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