Recently Dr. Stuart R. Gelder, Professor of biology at University of Maine at Presque Isle, returned from an one-week visit to the research laboratory of Professor Heather Proctor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

One of Prof. Proctor’s graduate students, Bronwyn W. Williams, is studying the ecology and genetics of North American branchiobdellidans, or crayfish worms. In 2006, Bronwyn Williams contacted Prof. Gelder regarding the identification of the worms she had collected. It became obvious that the necessary information and background Bronwyn Williams would need would take some months to acquire and that precious time in her graduate program would lost.

Recognizing the need for taxonomic expertise, Proctor and Williams applied to the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB) for a mini-PEET award to support a visit by Prof. Gelder to the University of Alberta. This enabled him to present the information he would usually give in workshops and seminars to interested researchers. The SSB organization recognizes the importance of having students visit experts, or visa versa, to ensure career-gained experience is not lost and graduate students do not waste their time rediscovering techniques for themselves.

The visit has led to the start of a long-term collaboration on crayfish worms between Prof. Gelder and Prof. Proctor’s laboratory. A manuscript is under preparation based on the work of Bronwyn Williams. It will be submitted for publication soon.