Rafael de Sà awarded grant from the National Science Foundation
February 6, 2012
Rafael de Sà, Professor of Biology, has been awarded a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $307,915.
Awarded under the Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program, and a special program in the Biology directorate for Advancing Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics (ARTS), the grant will support his research project, “Revision of the poorly known frog genus Chiasmocleis (Anura, Microhylidae).” This is a group of semifossorial frogs that occurs throughout the Neotropical lowlands east of the Andes from Panama to southern Brazil. This group has never been thoroughly studied to determine its species composition or boundaries of its distribution. Dr. de Sà and his research team intend to use a combined approach of molecular and morphological investigations to discover more about this Amazonian frog, with results to be published in scientific journals and presented at professional meetings.
The project will involve collaborations with scientists throughout Latin America, and will directly support the training of two Richmond undergraduate students each year along with two Brazilian researchers who will be present on campus for research in evolutionary biology and collaboration on synthetic and revisionary monographic work.
Dr. de Sà has taught at the University of Richmond since 1992 and has been awarded several other NSF grants.
Awarded under the Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) program, and a special program in the Biology directorate for Advancing Revisionary Taxonomy and Systematics (ARTS), the grant will support his research project, “Revision of the poorly known frog genus Chiasmocleis (Anura, Microhylidae).” This is a group of semifossorial frogs that occurs throughout the Neotropical lowlands east of the Andes from Panama to southern Brazil. This group has never been thoroughly studied to determine its species composition or boundaries of its distribution. Dr. de Sà and his research team intend to use a combined approach of molecular and morphological investigations to discover more about this Amazonian frog, with results to be published in scientific journals and presented at professional meetings.
The project will involve collaborations with scientists throughout Latin America, and will directly support the training of two Richmond undergraduate students each year along with two Brazilian researchers who will be present on campus for research in evolutionary biology and collaboration on synthetic and revisionary monographic work.
Dr. de Sà has taught at the University of Richmond since 1992 and has been awarded several other NSF grants.