Megan Barkdull
@meganbarkdull.bsky.social
600 followers 370 following 41 posts
Assistant Curator of Entomology @nhm.org | insects, genomes, museums | @cornelluniversity.bsky.social & New College of Florida alumna | she/her.
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meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Proud to share my story and advocate for federal science funding in my hometown paper, the @orlandosentinel.com.

I hope you'll join me in calling our elected officials to prevent devastating cuts to the NSF, NIH, and now other agencies like the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
sciencehomecoming.bsky.social
Entomologist Megan Barkdull curates a world-class insect collection but she got her start through federally-funded science programs — like those that teach Florida’s kids about wildlife from the Everglades 🐊 to the coasts. Now, that funding is at risk. 🧪🏠

@meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Commentary: Federal science funding fuels education, STEM careers
A science museum curator who grew up in Orlando talks about how federal science funding fueled her own life journey and so many others.
www.orlandosentinel.com
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
jlwilliamson.bsky.social
My lab is hiring a 2-yr hummingbird evolution and genomics postdoc and a 1-yr salaried research and lab tech. Both with full U. Wyoming benefits. Please spread the word! Info below. Best consideration date Nov 1, start dates early Spring 2026.
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
laurenfuess.bsky.social
Reminder, we’re hiring 2 PhD students for next year!! I’m extending the deadline to Nov 1, but please get your app in soon if you’re interested in joining us! More info is on our webpage. 🦠🦑

Please share with ECRs you know as well and check out our other open positio. (Postdoc!)
laurenfuess.bsky.social
🚨🚨We’re hiring graduate students!🚨🚨

We are hiring 1-2 PhD students to start sometime in 2026 (Fall start dates preferred). Opportunities to work on a diversity of eco-evo-immuno and symbiosis projects!

Deadline Oct 15! Please share broadly!

Info here: tinyurl.com/y2abjsem
opportunities – Symbiommunity Lab
tinyurl.com
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
chrisdick.bsky.social
We are hiring a full time plant mounter to join our U-M herbarium team. The person will mount specimens from around the world and train students in the plant mounting process. Cool botanical job! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
PLANT MOUNTER II | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
jeremymberg.bsky.social
This is a powerful account from a PhD student whose fellowship was terminated by NIH because it was part of a "diversity" program without any other considerations or understanding of what the program or the students were actually doing.

undark.org/2025/10/09/o...

1/2
NIH Student Grant Cancellation Will Weaken Scientific Innovation
The termination of federal F31 diversity fellowships puts many graduate students in a bind — and U.S. science at risk.
undark.org
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
napaaqtuk.bsky.social
Most of rural Alaska is Alaska Native. Bonus donating to support Alaska Native people on Indigenous Peoples Day.
napaaqtuk.bsky.social
Western Alaska was hit hard by the recent storms. Houses floated away in Kipnuk, houses flipped over, people lost everything from the flooding that came with the storms. Please donate if you can. This group has a long history of supporting AK communities.

alaskacf.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/c...
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
jsmartin.bsky.social
New paper out now in Evolution, co-led with Dave Westneat!

Using long-term data on house sparrows, we find that quantity-quality tradeoffs near a local fitness ridge favor more or less canalized clutch size distributions in response to environmental variability.

academic.oup.com/evolut/advan...
Measuring selection on reaction norms: Lack’s principle and plasticity in clutch size
We applied a novel multivariate analysis to measure linear and nonlinear selection on components of a complex reaction norm that was expected to be shaped
academic.oup.com
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
ent3c.bsky.social
In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.
Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are
Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.
www.theatlantic.com
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
peiferlabunc.bsky.social
I'm very excited to announce that UNC Biology has 6 faculty positions open this year! The first is for an Asst Professor who studies organismal resilience using an integrative approach 1/n
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...
Poster with QR code linking to the position
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
chrisdick.bsky.social
Michigan's #UMMZ Reptiles and Amphibians Collections Manager position is now open. Join a great museums group and help manage the world's second largest herpetology research collection. Please share! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Res Museum Collection Manager | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
nhm.org
This Monday, October 13, we invite you to join our wonderful Museum Educators in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day as they host an interactive table in the Grand Foyer and facilitate storytime in our Becoming Los Angeles exhibition space!

Will you be joining us? Plan your visit today at NHM.org.
A Museum Educator hosts storytime with young audiences in "Becoming Los Angeles" at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
lars-brudvig.bsky.social
Apply to become the next MSU EEB Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow!

These are two year positions with research stipend, working with 2+ MSU EEB faculty. Applications due 10 November 2025. More here:

eeb.msu.edu/initiatives/...
Postdoctoral Fellowship - Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior
eeb.msu.edu
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
gbaucom.bsky.social
I really hope this is successful! Please apply! Contact me if you have questions!
danielbolnick.bsky.social
@sse-evolution.bsky.social just announced the following:

Call for Proposals: Research Synthesis Working Groups
The Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE) invites proposals for sponsored Research Synthesis Working Groups at the 2026 Evolution meeting (up to two in-person and one virtual). ...
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
sohkamyung.bsky.social
My first pseudoscorpion observation was pure luck. Happen to see this wasp and took a shot. It was only later did I see what was hanging on the antenna.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ]
A brown pseudoscopion hanging on to the antenna of a wasp. The wasp is yellow with black stripes and transparent wings.
meganbarkdull.bsky.social
Getting set up with some spooky bugs for @nhm.org’s Haunted Museum event! 🐜🐞🎃🕸️
Megan, a brunette woman in an insect themed t-shirt, holds a drawer of colorful grasshoppers while standing in an aisle of entomology cabinets.
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
artd.bsky.social
#AskALibrarian
itsthebrandi.bsky.social
The LA Public Library research librarian explaining what is going on with Charli and Taylor is outstanding work

www.instagram.com/reel/DPXZIUa...
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
donmoyn.bsky.social
Yes, New College is incredibly inefficient but it also dropped 60(!) spots on the US News & World Report rankings. Not easy!
Everytime Chris Rufo is introduced as an impt voice in higher ed, remember that the one time he had a hand in running an institution has been a disaster.
Competence matters.
willbunch.bsky.social
You'll be shocked to learn New College of Florida is on the brink of implosion just a couple of years after DeSantis engineered an extreme right-wing takeover

Fun fact: NCF's new overlords spend $134K per student (!!...the average at other FL publics is $10K) www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida
Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization.
www.insidehighered.com
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
daveyfwright.bsky.social
🚨We're hiring! The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is seeking a tenure-track split position as Assistant Curator of Ichthyology and Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences. Please retweet & share with colleagues! 🐟🐠🧪

Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/174674
A job ad with multiple images, including the exterior of the museum, a view of collections (jars on shelves), and pictures of some cool, tropical fish but I don't know enough about fish to describe them other than to say they're pretty colors of yellow and blue/green
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
nathanharness.bsky.social
I found this rove beetle friend on the rainforest floor. They are so so fast, you can imaging me chasing it around with my camera just rolling around in the leaf litter. Just unbelievable colors. In person the rainbow iridescence is stunning. It’s hard to say much here beyond just wow.
Red green and yellow beetle on a leaf Red green and yellow beetle on a leaf
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
nhm.org
From tiny marine invertebrates to extraordinary artifacts, get an up-close look at rarely seen Museum Collections with the return of “Collections Revealed”, every Thursday beginning October 2!

Free with Museum Admission: go.nhm.org/collections-...
A collections specialist showcases a specimen drawer featuring various species of insects.
Reposted by Megan Barkdull
stairwaytokevin.bsky.social
I don't want to ever meet the latter kind of people. "Article that could have been a video" is not even a phrase I can comprehend
kattenbarge.bsky.social
The real generational divide is people who refuse to watch a video if it could be an article versus people who refuse to read an article if it could be a video