Executive
Secretary: Dr Ellinor Michel
I have just started in the role of Executive Secretary for ICZN
in early 2008, and am looking forward to working with the commissioners,
trustees and staff of the secretariat during a time of new challenges.
The ICZN is an attractive organization to work with, as it has built
the foundations for good taxonomic practice in zoology by working
as the main force in stabilizing nomenclature, yet it is also at
an exciting transition point. The responsibility for setting the
stage for good practice in cybertaxonomy is enormous, and the ICZN,
along with the development of ZooBank, has the potential to make
a sea change in the execution of taxonomy. If the challenges for
informatics retrieval, information input, and linkages with other
major biodiversity informatics programmes are handled adeptly, this
exciting programme will make a significant improvement in our ability
to meet the taxonomic challenges of the biodiversity crisis.
My past experience includes a range of academic and research roles
that provide a foundation for working with the ICZN. I am trained
as a molluscan systematist and ecologist, with a focus on freshwater
species radiations, both in neontological and palaeontological perspectives.
I am experienced with analytical methods in molecular systematics,
phylogenetic character analysis, morphometrics, experimental and
quantitative ecology. My taxonomic speciality is primarily in malacology,
but I have also worked on fish, crustaceans, sponges and bryozoans.
For the past five years I have been the acting field director and
assistant project director for a US-NSF research training programme
on tropical lakes, in addition to being the biology mentor (lecturer)
for the programme for the past ten years. I have taught topics in
evolution and ecology at the university level (both pre- and postgraduate)
for many years and have considerable editorial experience. I
am originally an American, but have been working in Europe for almost
a decade, first in the Netherlands, and now in London, with additional
research links in Africa and Russia. Details of my academic
history and experience are available on my website (link below).
Contact details:
International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature
(ICZN),
The Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road,
London SW7 5BD,
Tel: +44 (0)20 7942 5653
E-mail: iczn-em (at) nhm (dot) ac (dot)
uk
Website: http://www.sorayavillalba.com/ellinor/index.php
