In a first for the lab, we just held a completely online MSc defence. Valiantly, Nick defended his MSc with grace, precision, insight, humour, and interesting anecdotes.

His thesis is entitled: “The Physiological and Behavioural Consequences of Reduced Scalation in Captive-bred Phenotypes of the Bearded Dragon (Pogona vitticeps Ahl 1926)“.

Here he is giving his presentation (sorry for the screen cap, Nick)

speaking about one of our favourite study animals:

Many thanks to the examining committee:

External Examiner, Dr. Chris Oufiero, Towson University
Chair, Dr. Cheryl McCormick
Committee Member, Dr. Jeff Stuart
Committee Member, Dr. Robert Carlone
Supervisor, Dr. Glenn Tattersall

Virtual congratulations to Nick are insufficient expression of gratitude for his hard work and devotion to his research. When and if we can safely congregate in small groups, we will celebrate appropriately! I really owe Nick my thanks for joining my lab. He has helped educate me through his efforts. It cannot be fun wrapping up one’s MSc during a pandemic, and Nick did a brilliant job.

A few highlights from Nick’s presentation below.

Thanks as well to A&A Dragons for their support over the years.