John B. Wise

Office: 234 Science Center and 101, 65 Coming St.
Phone: 843-953-1421 or 281-300-5999

eMail: wisej@cofc.edu

BIRTHPLACE: Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA

EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in Biology, 1 June 1994, George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
M.S. in Marine Biology, 1987, College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.
B.S. in Biology, 1981, Francis Marion College, Florence, S.C.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Research Associate & Adjunct Faculty (2005- ) Dept. of Biology, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. Research as well as, teaching Evolution and Animal & Plant Biology and Biodiversity, Ecology and Conservation.

Curator (1995-2005). Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston TX. Curator of Malacology.

Assistant Professor (1994-1995). University of Southwestern Louisiana, Lafayette, LA. Taught introductory biology to biology majors.

Free-lance Abstractor (1994). Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, Bethesda, MD. Cambridge publishes the ASFIS reference series. Exhibitor (1993). National Zoo, Washington, D.C. Assisted in development of new exhibits for the Amazonian section of the zoo.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (1992-1993), George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Laboratory instructor for non-majors biology.

Lecturer in Biology (1992), George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Taught both lecture and lab-second summer session of introductory biology for biology majors.

Smithsonian Fellow (1991-1992), Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Pre-doctoral fellowship, which supported my dissertation research.

King Fellow (1990-1991), King Fellowship from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Provided support for dissertation research.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (1988-1990), George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Laboratory instructor for major's biology.

Research Assistant (1989), National Museum of National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. Collection curation. Student Intern (1988-1989), Hydrobiid Project, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Mollusks, Washington, D.C. Photography (SEM) and computer digitization.

Research Assistant (1988), College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C. Hard Clam Project, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium and Charleston, S.C. Assisted in fieldwork, photography, morphometrics, electrophoresis, and karyology of Mercenaria.

Laboratory Instructor (1988), College of Charleston, South Carolina. Taught major's biology lab. Biologist I (1986-1988), Marsh Utilization Project, South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, Marine Resources Division, Charleston, South Carolina. Conducted field sampling efforts, supervised sorting and identification of target organisms and assisted in sample design, data summarization, and project and budget reports.

Technician (1986)/Research Assistant (1985-1986), Golden Crab Project, South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, Marine Resources Division, Charleston, S.C.; Marquette Foundation College of Charleston, South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, Charleston, S.C. Participated in scientific cruises on R/V Oregon and R/V Lady Lisa to collect Geryon fenneri by deployment of deep water traps. Responsible for histology, reproduction, morphometrics, and first year report.

Technician (1986), Marsh Utilization Project, South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources, Marine Resources Division, Charleston, South Carolina. Assisted in collection, recording, and identification of penaeid species.

Research Assistant (1983-1986), South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, Marine Resources Division, MARMAP, Charleston, S.C. Participated in scientific cruises aboard R/V Oregon collecting finfish to assess gear efficacy and obtain life history information.

Mariculture Technician (1985), South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources Department, Marine Resources Division, Mariculture Program, Charleston, S.C. Assisted in construction of finfish raceways and holding tanks, and livestock maintenance.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (1983-1985), College of Charleston, Biology Department, Charleston, S.C. Taught freshman biology labs.

Summer Aide (1983), South Carolina Wildlife and Marine Resources, Marine Res. Div., MARMAP, Charleston, S.C. Participated in scientific cruises aboard R/V Oregon.

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
American Malacological Society, Systematic Biologist & Unitas Malacologica

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:
Membership Chair, American Malacological Society, 1997-2001
American Malacology Society Student Grants Committee, 2002.
American Academy of Underwater Sciences Grants Committee, 2002.
Scientific Advisor/Chair, Grants to Malacology – HMNS & HCS, 1995-2005.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
Attended only:
Annual conference of the American Malacological Union, July 1985, Kingston, RI.
Benthic Ecology Meeting, March 1985, Columbia, SC.
54th American Malacological Union meeting, June 1988,Charleston, SC.
10th Willi Hennig Society meeting, August 1991, Toronto, Canada.
61st American Malacological Union meeting, July 1995, Hilo, Hawaii.
14th Willi Hennig Society meeting, July 1995, College Station, Texas.
70th American Malacological Society meeting, July 2004, Sanibel Island, Florida.

Presented paper:
South Carolina Fisheries Workers Meeting, February 1987, Charleston, SC.
SEERS Meeting, April 1987, Naples, FL.
53rd American Malacological Union, July 1987, Key West, FL.
57th American Malacological Union, July 1991, Berkeley, CA.
64th American Malacological Union/World Congress of Malacology, July 1998, Washington, D.C.
Molluscs 2000 Meeting, December 2000, Sydney, Australia.
World Congress of Malacology Meeting, Vienna, Austria, August 2001.

Invited speaker:
58th American Malacological Union meeting. Symposium on Gastropod Evolution; August 1992, Sarasota, FL.
12th International Malacological Congress meeting, Unitas Malacologica. Phylogeny Free Lecture; September 1995, Vigo, Spain.
63rd American Malacological Union meeting. Symposium on Molluscan Systematics; June 1997, Santa Barbara, CA.
Conchologist of America meeting. June 2000, Houston, TX.
68th American Malacological Society meeting, Co-chair; Symposium on Molluscan Phylogenetics: A Total Evidence Approach; August 2002, Charleston, SC.
SeaSpace Convention. Creatures of the Deep, Deep Ocean; June, 2004, Houston, TX.

AWARDS AND RESEARCH GRANTS:
Maude M. Meyer Award for best student paper, 53rd American Malacological Union meeting, 1987, Key West, FL.
Carl I. Aslakson Scholarship Award, National Capital Shell Club, Washington, D.C., 1989.
Lerner-Gray Fund for Marine Research, American Museum of Natural History, NY, 1989.
Grants-in-Aid of Research Award, Sigma XI, 1989.
Delaware Museum Student Award, DE, 1989.
King Fellowship, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., 1990.
Smithsonian Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1991.
Collections Study Grant, American Museum of Natural History, NY, 1998.
R.Tucker Abbott Visiting Curatorship, The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum, Sanibel, FL, 1998.
Visiting Scientist Research Award, Smithsonian Marine Station Linkport, FL, 1989-2000.
Sterling Research Grant, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX, 1998-1999.
Visiting Curatorship, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, and Mar. - May 2000.
Sterling Research Grant, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX, 2000/2001.
Visiting Scientist Research Award, Smithsonian Marine Station Fort Pierce, FL, 2001-2006

JOURNAL AFFILIATIONS:
Consulting Editor for The Nautilus, 1997 - Scientific Advisor/Co-editor for the Texas Conchologist, 1995 – 2005.

PUBLICATIONS:
Wenner, E.L., Glenn F. Ulrich, and J.B. Wise. 1987. Exploration for the golden crab, Geryon fenneri, in the South Atlantic Bight: distribution, population structure, and gear assessment. Fishery Bulletin, 85(3): 547-560.

Wise, J.B. 1987. Contributions to the biology of Boonea impressa Say (Pyramidellidae: Gastropoda) M.S. thesis. College of Charleston.

Wise, J.B. 1993. Anatomy and functional morphology of the feeding structures of the ectoparasitic gastropod Boonea impressa (Pyramidellidae). Malacologia, 35(1): 119-134.

Wise, J.B. 1994. Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of certain members of the ectoparasitic family Pyramidellidae (Heterobranchia). Dissertation, George Washington University.

Wise, J.B. 1996. Morphology and phylogenetic relationships of certain pyramidellid taxa (Heterobranchia). Malacologia, 37(2): 443-511.

Wise, J.B. 1997. Petitilla, new name for Petitella Wise, 1996, a preoccupied name (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Pyramidellidae). The Nautilus, 110(2): 76.

Collin, R. and J.B. Wise 1997. Morphology and development of Odostomia columbiana Dall and Bartsch (Pyramidellidae): Implications for the evolution of gastropod development. Biological Bulletin, 192:243-252.

Wise, J.B. 1998. Morphology and systematic position of Rissoella caribaea. The Nautilus, 111(1): 13-21. Wise, J.B. 1999. Reassignment of Henyra morrisoni Bartsch, 1947 from the Family Aclididae to the Ebalidae (Gastropoda: Heterobranchia). The Nautilus, 113(2): 64-70.

Wise, J.B. 2000. Anatomy and systematic placement of Sayella laevigata (Gastropoda: Pyramidellidae: Sayellinae. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 66:119-124. Wise, J.B. 2001. Anatomy of Boonea jadisi (Olsson & McGinty, 1958) (Heterobranchia: Pyramidellidae) from the western Atlantic, including a comparison of other species assigned to the genus. The Nautilus, 115(2): 68-75.

Wise, J.B., G. Harasewych, & R. Dillon. 2004. Population divergence in the sinistral Busycon whelks of North America, with special reference to the east Florida ecotone. Marine Biology, 145:1163-1179; SMSFP Contrib.538.

Howells, R.G., J. B. Wise, A. Y. Karatayev, and LE. Burlakova 2004. New “Old Records” of Asian Clam Corbicula fluminea in Texas. Ellipsaria, 6(3): 11.

Alford, R.L. et al. (19 authors with J. Wise listed as 12) 2004. The Living Genome, Reading the Book of Life – A Model for Community-Based Genetics Education. Biology Digest, 31: 11-17.

Wise, J.B. 2005. Morphology and systematics of Fargoa bushiana and F. dianthophila (Heterostropha: Pyramidellidae) including a review of the genus Fargoa (In prep.).

Wise, J.B. and M. Gaubrecht 2006. The pyramidellid types of Johannes Thiele: Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin. Mitelungen aus dem Mus.Fur Naturkunde Berlin. (In prep.)

Wise, J.B. 2006. The pyramidellid types of Saurin. Mem. Mus. natn. Hist. nat. Paris (in prep.).

Strong E. & J. Wise 2006. The morphology and systematics of certain Epitonium species and their placement within the Ptenoglossa.

COMMUNITY AND EDUCATIONAL INVOLVEMENT:
Public Schools:
Business Partners 1987-1988, a cooperative venture between Sullivan's Island Elementary School and South Carolina Marine Resources Division Charleston, SC, with the goal of providing students with a better understanding of marine, coastal environments.
Volunteer lecturer 1990-1994, Watkins Mill Elementary School, Gaithersburg, Maryland. Provide presentations to various grade levels over a range of biological topics (pollution, zoology, ecology, etc.)
Volunteer lecturer 1995-2005, Katy and Houston School Districts, Texas. Provided hands-on presentations to K-12 concerning marine biology, ecology, conservation, etc.

Museum:
Lecturer/educator 1995- 2005, provided tours of the Strake Hall of Malacology and Malacology department at the Houston Museum of Natural Science for docents, students, and seniors. This included both written and verbal (recorded) guides to Malacology Hall.Worked with both the museum’s Education and Volunteer Departments to provide course work and specialized programs (=in service) for K-12 teachers. Provided hands on programs wherein adults and children can learn of the marine environment. Participants explored the coastal and nearshore biomes, (e.g., pulled a seine, and experienced first hand, species identification and information gathering) as well as lead high sea adventures for groups (all ages) on trawlers operated by the University of Texas, Galveston (UTMB-NRCC) and UT - Port Aransas, Texas.

Television (PBS – Houston, TX):
Science Quest (live, .5h educational program) – I wrote the scripts and acted as the guest expert in 4 programs. Topics included symbiosis, the history of microscopy, the salt marsh and its importance to a large number of both recreational and commercial species and cephalopods.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:
Histology (paraffin and plastic), microtome (standard and ultra), tissue fixation, preservation, and both standard and histochemical staining, karyotyping, gel electrophoresis, SEM operation (Cambridge 100, Selectron 250, & JSM-6100), critical point drying (automated and or chemicals), micro-dissections, black & white and color photography (employing cpd. microscope Zeiss tessovar, macro lens, etc.), phylogenetic analysis with emphasis in cladistics (utilizing current methods of outgroup polarization or comparison, Wagner and Hennig argumentation algorithms, and multistate character analysis (e.g., homology method [sensu Lipscomb, 1992], transformation series analysis, non-additive) and multiple data sets (molecular, morphological, proteins, etc.)

FIELD EXPERIENCE:
Small and large boat, collecting abiotic parameters e.g., turbidity (secchi disk), salinity (refractometer, specific gravity), temperature (kemmerer & reversing (Nansen) thermometer), current (flow meter) dissolved oxygen (Winkler method), baited and habitat traps of various configurations, seine, otter trawl, sled, bow, flume, plankton, and cast nets, jet pump suction grab, bucket dredge, and Peterson-type, Rotenone, population density: transects, mark-recapture, quadrat and SCUBA.

Description of curatorial position:
June 1995-March 2005, I was the curator of Malacology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.
During this period my energies were focused on four main areas:
1) education, 2) exhibition, 3) malacology collection, and 4) research.

1. The conveyance of natural science information to the public is an important endeavor and a serious responsibility. I’m a strong advocate of stewardship. With this in mind, a portion of my time was utilized in the education of both adults and children/students (K-16). Through the various museum programs I provided lectures, guided tours, hands on field experiences, in-service teacher training, as well as outreach programs to the various district schools in and around the Houston area.

2. During my tenure as curator, I was intimately involved (i. e., responsible for all content and some design aspects) for both temporary and permanent exhibits.

   Permanent exhibits: In November 1997, we completely renovated our permanent malacology hall. A hall (which until this time consisted of 2,500 shells, a few photographs of living mollusks, and two videos), now contains a 35 foot model of the giant squid Architeuthis sp. (with 20x25 foot mural depicting sperm whale and giant squid in combat), 10 other molluscan models, over 900 shells exemplifying the diversity existing within and between the 8 molluscan classes, 3 aquaria (featuring giant clams, Texas and Gulf of Mexico mollusks, and Sepia), original Chenu prints, electron microphotographs of micro-shells and snails teeth, a pearl exhibit, with video describing the production of cultured pearls and a short animated film (we produced) illustrating jet propulsion, color change, and the use of ink in squids.

   In-house temporary exhibits: 1) The fauna of the Flower Garden Banks – northern most North American coral reef (Nov. 1996 - Feb. 1997), 2) Now you see it! The microworld and the power of the microscope (Sept. 1999 – Jan. 2000), and 3) Creatures of Perpetual Darkness (Jan. - May 2002).

   Other temporary exhibits: Curator and project manager for the AMNH exhibit – Pearls: A Natural History (Sept. 2003 – Feb. 2004).

3. The HMNS malacology collection contains nearly one million dried specimens, approximately half of which are from the Gulf of Mexico. We completely and systematically reorganized the collection, supported by a database with over 54,000 lots, as well as increased the Gulf of Mexico holdings and selectively add to our worldwide collection, mainly for exhibit purposes (we acquired over 40,000 lots during my tenure).

4. I am particularly interested in the systematics of the molluscan order Heterostropha and what this group can tell us about the evolutionary history of the Gastropoda.
   Current research projects:
   Morphology and molecular biology of the lower Heterobranchs.
   Phylogeny of the ectoparasitic gastropod family Pyramidellidae.
   Shallow and deep-water pyramidellids of New Caledonia.
   Phylogeny of Ptenoglossans.
   
   Other responsibilities included:
   Museum travel program/Ecotours - For 9 years, I lead educational expeditions to Belize, Bahamas Islands (2), Texas – Gulf of Mexico (>20), New England, Ecuador - Galapagos Is. (2), Turks and Caicos Is., and southern Baja, Mexico.

Go to home page for the Grice Marine Laboratory.
Go to homepage for Department of Biology.
Go to directory of Biology Faculty and Staff Directory, College of Charleston.
Go to homepage for College of Charleston.