The city of Dumaguete and Silliman University hosted three international scientists from the United States. Coming from the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida, the group arrived in Dumaguete City by a special invitation by Dr. Angel C. Alcala, professor emeritus and past president of Silliman University.{{more}}
Dr. Thomas C. Emmel, director of the McGuire Center, gave a special lecture on The McGuire Center: Its Role in Biodiversity, Conservation, and Ecotourism at the SU Multimedia Center at Silliman on July 20th. The illustrated presentation was attended by about 100 students, professors, government officials, and other interested persons representing several institutions of higher learning across Negros Oriental and Occidental. The two-hour seminar covered such topics as butterfly biology, endangered species conservation, public education programs on biodiversity, ways to encourage ecotourism, and butterfly farming techniques. It was followed by a reception and question-and-answer session.
As a former classmate of Dr. Alcala while both attended Stanford University in the United States, Dr. Emmel was not only eager to reunite with his former graduate school colleague during this visit to Dumaguete, but he was also enthusiastic to begin working on a collaborative effort connecting his home institution, the Florida Museum of Natural History, and the Silliman University Angelo King Center for Research & Environmental Management to promote conservation and biodiversity research and conservation.
Dr. Emmel was accompanied by two colleagues from the McGuire Center and Florida Museum: J. Court Whelan and Galileo Encabo; the U.S. group spent the next several days conducting preliminary research in Dumaguete City and the surrounding areas until Friday when they returned to Cebu and departed to cross the Pacific Ocean en route back to the US after a wonderful stay in the Philippines.
