In the Spring of 1997, I taught an intensive course (15 hours of lecture; 10 hours of lab; two weeks of paleontological field work) in Phylogenetic Systematics at the University of Antananarivo, Madagascar. This course was funded by a grant from the MacArthur Foundation to Dr. Steve Goodman (Field Museum of Natural History) that is geared towards educating Malagasy students in scientific methods and theory with the hope that these scholars will go on to help shape the ecological future of Madagascar. The belief is that, by virtue of this training and exposure to state-of-the-art scientific theory, students can apply their appreciation of the natural resources that are unique to Madagascar with a concomitant understanding of how those resources can be studied, managed, and protected. Thus far, the program appears to be an unqualified success. The students are the most dedicated, attentive, and enthusiastic that I've ever had the pleasure to teach. It seems promising that some of them will eventually be instrumental in mitigating Madagascar's accelerating environmental crisis. To continue my participation in this effort, I am coordinating a lab-oriented training program in conservation genetics, both for Malagasy and American students. This program is being funded by an NSF CAREER award and begins in the summer of 2000. The program will continue for the next four years, during which time at least 10 Malagasy scholars will spend a summer residence in my lab.

Photograph: Steve Goodman confers with Malagasy students Josiane RANDRIANAIVOARISOA and Malala TOTOVOLAHY

Photograph: Phylogenetic Systematics class, Universite d'Antananarivo (April, 1997)