Hannah Vander Zanden
Associate professor. Academic mama. Sea turtles, animal migration, stable isotopes, ecology, and spatial processes. Comments are my own. she/her
- We finally saw an olive ridley nesting last night! I used the long exposure setting to take photos under the full moon. Today, we went to Copalita National Park before heading to the beach.
- The learning continues. Night time nest relocation, a leatherback track after we saw the female false crawl, revegetation, and triangulation.
- Yesterday afternoon, we learned about the history of sea turtle conservation from local cooperative members as well as government employees. This morning, we rescued hatchlings on the beach.
- We saw our first olive ridley hatchlings last night. This morning, we cleaned a large tank and helped handle green turtles for vitamin injections at Centro Mexicano de la Tortuga.
- Before heading to the coast this afternoon, we toured Monte Albán to learn about some Mesoamerican archaeological history.
- I have the privilege of taking students to Mexico for just over a week for my Sea Turtle Biology and Conservation Course this semester. Despite the travel complications yesterday, all but one arrived to Oaxaca. Some scenes from the city.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThe National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
- The university mandated everyone to come back to the office but now say they can longer afford to keep paying for office phones.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenOn the list: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services International Tropical Timber Institute Internacional Union for the Conservancy of Nature Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research
- This is insane. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
- Maybe this is my sign to tone down my perfectionism this year.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThe district court injunction that prevented NIH from capping indirects at 15% was upheld today on appeal! www.reuters.com/world/trump-...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden7/ Here's the bottom line: This is an unprecedented shift that risks weakening protection against preventable diseases at a time when outbreaks are rising and children are already being hospitalized. Vaccines don’t work without strong supporting systems...and the U.S. doesn’t have Denmark’s.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenAs parents are helping their kids consider colleges, this is my perennial reminder that state schools often have lower price tags, yes, but private schools, including many small liberal arts schools, often have better aid packages, and are thus often cheaper in the end (but may be more competitive).
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenEvery article about the dismantling of NCAR says the same thing, but read every one because it's so insane.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenI really appreciate whoever keeps posing the skeleton model in the anatomy lab room like this; I grin every time I walk past it.
- New OA pub in @stacksjournal.bsky.social : @zoologistkate.bsky.social social compared the isotopic composition of hair and feathers to the whole body of mammals and birds. It turns out these tissues can sometimes (but not always) represent the whole body. stacksjournal.org/article/davi...
- This knowledge is important in diet reconstructions using stable isotope methods, especially for animals that consume prey whole, as studies often use non-invasively collected tissues as a proxy for the whole animal.
- It was our first publication with @stacksjournal.bsky.social, and I highly encourage others to consider this affordable, open-access journal with an innovative peer review process.
- I ran a slow half marathon this morning…it was 75F by the end. This afternoon, I did some grocery shopping and made a double batch of enchiladas to take a pan to our neighbors with a newborn. #WorkfreeWeekend
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenWhat does ‘six-seven’ mean? Nothing. But it’s still loaded with meaning | Matt Cantor
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zandenit's wild that R, the ubiquitous statistical computing language, was co-created by a Māori prof (Ross Ihaka) — and yet the vast majority of scientists who use R don't know this is like inventing the toaster. possibly the largest impact of a single member of an indigenous community on modern science
- gas, hybrid, EV
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThe Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenNSF unexpectedly changed (at the last minute) who is eligible to apply for the Grad Research Fellowship, dropping 2nd year students. We started a petition to reverse this unfair change, Sign here: laurenkuehne.github.io/grfpChanges/ and please spread the word!!!!
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenNSF Graduate Fellowship announcement is finally posted! www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo... 1/2
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenPlease share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThe @aaup.org just shared guidance for academic workers on how to protect themselves online www.aaup.org/news/advisor...
- I am glad my Supervisor of Elections sent this message today: All vote-by-mail ballot requests in Florida expired on December 31, 2024, due to a change in Florida Law. Voters must make a new vote-by-mail ballot request for each election cycle.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenHot off the presses 🔥🦇! In a new paper, we describe a new migratory strategy (pell-mell migration) in which hoary and eastern red bats migrate north in the autumn— sometimes long distances— before turning around and migrating south. 1/n
- New pub from my first PhD student @batsonthemove.bsky.social. She found some bats have a complex migration strategy: two species move north in the autumn, flying long and likely circuitous routes of hundreds of miles, before ultimately returning south to overwinter. news.ufl.edu/2025/09/bat-...
- These intrepid flights also appear to increase the risk of encountering dangerous obstacles such as wind turbines. See the full study here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenFlorida Decided There Were Too Many Children
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenGuess what Florida will make great again? Measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Respiratory syncytial virus, influenza, Covid-19, hepatitis A & B, varicella, Human papillomavirus, Meningococcal meningitis & rotavirus
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenFull resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back. "The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenGood overview of yesterday’s legally questionable & incredibly harmful SCOTUS decision from @maxkozlov.bsky.social & @dangaristo.bsky.social. It’s clear SCOTUS will not rein in Trump’s authoritarian overreach. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThis morning, the Atlantic published an article on David Geier, highlighting his history of publishing papers that claim associations between various vaccines and chronic conditions, including autism. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
- This cat is from Gainesville.
- Kudos to Pepper for her hunting skills & her contribution to science, and if you find a dead animal you should always see if your county or other local scientists are looking for study subjects, but also JUST KEEP YOUR CATS THE FUCK INSIDE. gizmodo.com/florida-cat-...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenDo not organize conferences in the US with an expectation to invite international scientists. www.nbcnewyork.com/news/busines...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden🧪Have a terminated NSF grant? Or been impacted by such a termination? Call your Senators, esp if they're Repub!! An amendment to restore killed NSF grants will later be debated on the *full Senate* floor, after it narrowly failed in committee today. 🧵 Brief thread 1/4
- New parenting level unlocked: my kids have given me head lice.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenAcademics get annoyed by the "gosh, it must be nice to have your summers off" thing. But it's just a special case of something general: there's lots we don't know about each other. scientistseessquirre...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenThe Senate appropriations committee has voiced its intent to ignore the request by President Donald Trump to slash the budgets of the National Science Foundation and NASA science programs. scim.ag/4nW7XWi
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden..there's no doubt that: As climate change supersizes weather extremes, we need MORE info to keep people safe, not less. More experts, instruments, models, research, etc: much of which is being reduced or cut. Timely, accurate science helps assess risks + make informed decisions that save lives.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden[This post could not be retrieved]
- Grant submitted. But good feeling is brief, as now I need to pick up all the pieces that were put aside to work on the grant.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenWe are dismantling American higher education & scientific research & health care & all the other things to fund concentration camps
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenNEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years. NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
- I celebrated some good news yesterday with sidra and chorizo.
- Translation: I have met an undefined bar of distinction, so I will receive a pay raise a year later than peers who did not take parental leave during their probationary period, and I now must prove to my university every five years that I still deserve a job or be fired immediately. #TenureInFlorida
- Cynicism aside, I appreciate the supportive colleagues, mentors, and departmental chairs in my academic journey, students and postdocs who have breathed life into my spirit, and the internal/external reviewers who gave their time to weigh the arc of my work.
- Well, the NSF found my active CAREER Award has words that are now forbidden. I have been asked to submit minor modifications before the next increment is released.
- To be clear, the NSF denies that there is a list of words to avoid, but how do you think they went about determining if all active awards are in alignment with updated broader impacts criteria?
- Reposted by Hannah Vander Zanden“Looking to magic and intuition for agency in a moment when science and medicine are frustrating is normal and human. But I worry that these normal human impulses are being exploited by powerful people,” Dannagal Young, a professor of communication and political science, writes.
- Enjoy today’s sunlight. Happy summer solstice to those in the northern hemisphere!
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenDavid R. Hagen just solved a small mystery that I mentioned 13 years ago in the mouseover text of a comic drhagen.com/blog/the-mis...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenSome highlights about an important study of contrast-enhanced mammography for cancer screening in women with dense breast tissue.
- We celebrated #WorldSeaTurtleDay with a trip to the Seville Aquarium.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenYOUNG: "I am hesitant to draw this conclusion, but I have an unflinching obligation to draw it – that this represents racial discrimination. And discrimination against America’s LGBTQ community. That’s what this is. I would be blind not to call it out. My duty is to call it out."
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenBREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenMelissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenFascism. Right here... This is fascism. The words that Noem was using are fascist. The actions to remove a duly elected senator from California in this situation are fascist. Fascism is here folks. You ask yourself what you'd do in response to fascism when it showed up? Now is your chance.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenI've always been a bit embarrassed by my poor "naturalist" skills, especially as an ecologist surrounded by folks who can identify every tree and every sandpiper. Posting this, I've learned I'm not alone - and I feel better. scientistseessquirre...
- I am a co-author on a paper that was just accepted. I appreciate the reviewer who took time to point out every single line number where "Gulf of America" occurred with a recommendation to change it to "Gulf" (>50 times). The lead author is a government employee, so unfortunately it remained GoA.
- I keep thinking back to this piece: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenA monumental taxonomy unification effort has just been published - thanks to all those who've collaborated for years to make this happen! birdsoftheworld.org/bow/news/avi...
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenDilly Dally, a loggerhead turtle who survived a run-in with a predator that ultimately cost her a flipper, has been rereleased into the wild. 🐢
- Hmm...does anyone remember what the Florida Board of Governors was up to about five years ago?
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenA female Western Gull was recorded riding 150km in a garbage truck from San Francisco to a compost facility in Central CA, probably to forage. TWICE. An innovator, an icon, a genius. This is one of my favorite @waterbirdsociety.bsky.social papers I've ever handled as managing editor #ornithology
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenAriadna Arnau successfully deployed three satellite transmitters on loggerheads at Wassaw Island, Georgia last week. Stay tuned for updates. We are particularly interested in their internesting habitat use and indicators of feeding status.
- Reposted by Hannah Vander ZandenProposed cut to NSF Biology budget is 70%. 70%. Seventy. Call your senators & reps nonstop. Give them numbers on NSF impact for state/district. tableau.external.nsf.gov/views/NSFbyN... explain this will decimate the economy if their districts, especially if it has a major research univ. 🧪
- In case anyone needs a refresher on good file naming procedures…
- Thanks Hannah! Were they the ones from my class? youtu.be/BMwI7ubvTnE?...
