Curator’s Cupboards
These special weekend events are your chance to meet members of our curatorial team, ask your own questions, and get a first-hand, up-close look at many amazing curiosities of our collections.
Learn more >
Support Today's Scientists, Inspire Tomorrow's Scientists
When you give to the Museum, you support our scientists' research on the planet's biodiversity. You are also creating tomorrow's scientists. Our teacher resources make each field trip a learning experience, our education outreach brings the science of discovery to schools all over L.A. Learn more >
User login
Joel W. Martin, Curator of Crustacea, Chief of the Division of Invertebrate Studies
Dr. Joel W. (Jody) Martin joined the Natural History Museum in 1988. A native of Kentucky, he received his degrees in biology from the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and Florida State University. Dr. Martin is also an adjunct professor at both USC and UCLA, where he occasionally teaches and oversees graduate student research. His research interests include the morphology (form, function, and adaptation), natural history, and evolutionary relationships of crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and their many relatives in habitats all over the world. He has published more than 100 scientific articles and books and is well known nationally and internationally as an expert on the Crustacea. His field work has taken him from shallow, ephemeral freshwater ponds and pools in the Mojave Desert and the southeastern United States to coral reefs in the eastern Pacific, central Pacific, and in the Caribbean, where he has led expeditions to document marine biodiversity as it relates to coral reefs and nearby habitats. His work also includes studies on the animals inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, and he is a world authority on the identification and biology of crustaceans at these bizarre and remote habitats. A recipient of more than 20 grants from the U.S. National Science Foundation, a frequent public speaker on global biodiversity and on the history of science, faith, and society, Dr. Martin is also an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Unfilled, Collections Manager
This critically important position, responsible for overseeing the care, maintenance, loans, and visitors related to the world's fourth largest collection of Crustacea, is currently unfilled.
Regina Wetzer, Research Scientist and MBC Director
Dr Regina Wetzer is a Research Scientist in the Crustacea lab and the Director of the Marine Biodiversity Center. Her areas of expertise include the systematics and phylogeny (relationships) of isopod crustaceans and the application of molecular method to infer phylogeny in a wide variety of crustaceans.
N. Dean Pentcheff, Research Associate and Consultant
Dean Pentcheff is a Research Associate and independent consultant to the Crustacea lab. His work involves the design, implementation and oversight of the decapod and isopod crustacean taxonomic literature database system, training of student workers, and general website infrastructure and support, especially for the Decapod Crustacea Tree of Life project funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.