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The Song Lab focuses on the study of an insect order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids) and other insects and aims at understanding behavioral, ecological, physiological, morphological and molecular evolution in a phylogenetic framework. |
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Hojun Song, Ph.D. |
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Lab News
May 13, 2013
A new summer research course supported by the CAREER award titled, "Integrative Biology (BSC3930)," will begin on May 14. Eight students have enrolled in this course to learn about field ecology, laboratory experiments and scientific communication using Schistocerca.
May 13, 2013
The Song Lab has just learned that a collaborative grant with Dr. Nik Tatarnic (Western Australian Museum) from the Hermon Slade Foundation will be funded to study the phylogenomics of the Australian chameleon grasshopper genus Kosciuscola!
Mar 21, 2013
Ricardo was awarded the Entomological Society of America SysEB Student Travel Award ($1500) to conduct a field expedition to study the biology and ecology of Sphenarium in Mexico. Congratulations!
Feb 28, 2013
Members of the Song Lab are presenting at the 2013 SEEC meeting (http://seeconference.wordpress.com/) this weekend.
Feb 28, 2013
Hojun had a month-long expedition of the Australian alpines. He came back with hundreds of grasshoppers!
Feb 27, 2013
Derek and Ricardo participated in the Orthoptera Species File training session at the INHS.
Feb 6, 2013
Hojun's new paper titled, "Uncovering historical signature of mitochondrial DNA hidden in the nuclear genome: the biogeography of Schistocerca revisited" is published as early view in Cladistics!
Feb 1, 2013
The Orthoptera Species File Grant titled, "ENHANCING DIGITAL CONTENT FOR PYRGOMORPHIDAE (ORTHOPTERA: CAELIFERA) IN THE ORTHOPTERA SPECIES FILE" was funded!
Feb 1, 2013
Hojun is off to Australia for a month to collect wingless grasshoppers in Australian alpines.
Dec 10, 2012
Congrats to Tyler who successfully defended his thesis proposal on December 10, 2012!
Dec 3, 2012
Sandeep's first publication titled, "Exposure to exogenous enkephalins disrupts reproductive development in the Eastern lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera (Insecta: Orthoptera)" was published in PLOS One. Congrats!
Nov 28, 2012
Great news to the Song Lab! Dr. Song has learned that he will receive a CAREER award of $787,000 starting February 2013 for his project titled, "CAREER: Evolution of Locust Swarms and Phenotypic Plasticity in Grasshoppers."
Nov 16, 2012
Song Lab attended the Entomological Society of America meeting. Derek, Ricardo, Tyler, Steve, and Sandeep presented their research in student competition. Ricardo was also invited to give a talk on Mexican Orthoptera in a separate symposium. Hojun gave a talk as well.
Oct 25, 2012
Dr. Rosaura Mayen-Estrada from UNAM, a world-renown protozoologist, also Ricardo's MS advisor, visited Song Lab for three days.
Aug 24, 2012
Hojun has been selected as the vice-president elect for SysEB of the Entomological Society of America.
Aug 24, 2012
Hojun and Ricardo attended the International Congress of Entomology in Daegu, Korea. Hojun delivered three talks and Ricardo presented a talk on pyrgomorphid phylogeny.
Aug 15, 2012
Congratulations to Derek Woller for winning $1000 grant from the Orthopterists' Society! Way to go Derek!
Jul 10, 2012
Paolo Fontana from Italy, who also accompanied Derek and Ricardo's trip to Mexico visited the Song Lab on July 2-10, 2012. While he visited, he worked tirelessly on several taxonomic projects.
May 4, 2012
Steve Gotham and Christy Bitzer-Jaffe graduated as biology majors from UCF! Well done guys!
Apr 16, 2012
Song Lab participated in the BioBlitz in the Wekiwa Basin on April 14-15. A large number of students from the biology department joined and had a blast. Thanks Derek for coordinating everything. Pictures coming soon!
Apr 5, 2012
Steve and Gaby presented their posters at the 2012 Showcase of Undergraduate Research Excellence. The presentations looked good! Steve won the Honorable Mention award. Congrats!
Mar 19, 2012
Steve Gotham received the UCF's RAMP Fellowship for his M.S. degree in the Song Lab. Awesome job, Steve!!! Congratulations!!!
Mar 13, 2012
Congratulations to Tyler Raszick for receiving the Orthopterists' Society Grant to carry out his research on Schistocerca lineata!
Feb 12, 2012
Hojun and Tyler attended the Future of Evo-Devo Meeting held in Portland, Oregon. It was an enlightening meeting!
Nov 24, 2011
Derek and Ricardo will conduct a two-week expedition to southern Mexico and Guatemala to collect grasshoppers in December.
Nov 16, 2011
Tyler, Steve, Sandeep and Hojun went to the Annual Meeting of the Entomological Society of America and gave oral presentations. Everyone did very well!
Aug 11, 2011
Derek Woller and Ricardo Marino Perez have joined the Song Lab starting this fall. Welcome!
Jul 21, 2011
Hojun, Tyler, and Steve went on a 5000-mile expedition to collect different populations of Schistocerca lineata in Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. We were successful at bringing back live specimens of four different ecotypes of S. lineata. Please check out pictures taken during the trip.
Jun 24, 2011
NSF summer research workshop in systematic entomology ended on June 24, 2011. Three participants traveled across Central Florida and collected over 1000 specimens of grasshoppers and learns tons about biology and taxonomy of grasshoppers. Please check out their photos in the Photo Link.
Jun 3, 2011
Song Lab went to Disney Wilderness Preserve to collect grasshoppers. We rode a swamp boggy and it was fun! Thanks Jen and B for all your help!
May 20, 2011
Song Lab visited the Florida State Collection of Arthropods in Gainesville to examine Orthoptera collection.
May 16, 2011
NSF-sponsored summer workshop on systematic entomology started today. This 6-week program is geared toward providing research opportunities to underrepresented students in science. This year, three students, Gabriella Alava, Ojochide Shaibu, and Chantalle Maragh, have been selected to participate in the workshop. They will learn a lot about Orthoptera this summer!
May 6, 2011
The newest piece of equipment added to our lab is the BK Plus System from Visionary Digital. Roy Larimer came out for a week, walking us through how to take incredibly detailed photos of insects.
Apr 4, 2011
Prospective PhD student Derek Woller visited the Song Lab. He is going to join the Song Lab in the fall 2011.
Apr 1, 2011
YES/RAMP scholar Steve Gotham presented his first scientific poster at the UCF Showcase of Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE). His poster focused on the molecular phylogeny of the lubber grasshopper family Romaleidae.
Mar 10, 2011
Dr. Song received the UCF In-House Grant to conduct a comparative behavioral study of Schistocerca.
Jan 26, 2011
Our lab now has the EthoVision XT to study behavioral plasticity of Schistocerca! We had an interesting training session and learned a lot about Excel. :)
Jan 17, 2011
The Song Lab went on a brief field trip to the Florida Keys in search of Schistocerca. We have successfully collected an endemic population of Schistocerca (we dont' know what species it is yet) and we plan to start a colony.
Jan 10, 2011
Our lab is growing! Tyler Raszick joined the lab as a lab manager and he will start his Master's in the fall semester. Matt Vickers also joined the lab. Matt is an EXCEL scholar. Finally, Vinnie Coello joined the lab as a volunteer.
Dec 7, 2010
Steve was awarded the UCF OUR Student Research Grant with a project titled, "Study of the Effect of Tactile Stimulus in Inducing Behavior and Color Plasticity in a Sedentary grasshopper Schistocerca americana." Congratulations Steve, you rock!
Nov 22, 2010
Christy Bitzer-Jaffe joined the Song Lab. She is interested conservation genetics. Welcome Christy!
Nov 22, 2010
After awkward transitional period, the Song Lab has finally moved in to a bigger space and we are beginning to operate! Yay!
Nov 10, 2010
Hojun Song, “Density-Dependent Phase Polyphenism in Nonmodel Locusts: A Minireview,” Psyche, vol. 2011, Article ID 741769, 16 pages, 2011. doi:10.1155/2011/741769. See publication tab.
Oct 19, 2010
We now have cabinets and drawers in our lab to house the synoptic collection of Acridomorpha of the world. These specimens will be studied for the evolution of male genitalia.
Oct 4, 2010
Our lab now has a large colony of Schistocerca americana, a small colony of S. rubiginosa, and an ongoing colony of Romalea microptera all locally collected. These grasshoppers will be very useful for studying phenotypic plasticity.
Oct 1, 2010
We now have three Biorad C1000's. We are ready for some serious PCR work!
Sep 30, 2010
Our lab is now equipped with high-end Leica stereomicrocopes (two M80's and one M205C). Awesome scopes will help us conduct taxonomic studies smoothly.
Sep 29, 2010
Steve Gotham, a junior in biology, joined our lab. He is supported by UCF RAMP/YES program and he will be working on the phylogeography of lubber grasshoppers.