Caretaker(s): John Kemper and Juli Scamardo
Email(s): available upon request
About Emma: Born Emily Smithfield in Evansville, Indiana, she got the heck out of town as soon as she turned 18 (weeks) and fulfilled her life-long aspirations for adventure by making the journey westward to colorful Colorado. Here, Emma continues to be an explorer of undiscovered corners, cabinets, and counters in the Kemper Scamardo residence. In her spare time, Emma is an avid bird watcher, an amateur vocalist, and a houseplant enthusiast.
Emma’s research interests: Emma’s primary interests consist of whatever is behind that closed door. She is especially concerned with investigating the spatial and temporal patterns of objects residing in spaces where you are either trying to put something down or pick something up. Emma is also interested in the ecological benefit of houseplants during playtime.
Emma’s selected publications:
Emma et al., 2019, The resilience of Spathiphyllum wallisii to leaf removal and constant disturbance. Journal of Common Houseplants 8(1): 122:125.
Emma, 2019, The new final frontier: methodology for attempted entrance into the open fridge. Polar Science 25: 213-222.
About Zia: Zia arrived in Fort Collins from New Mexico, where she studied the influence of small bits of string on the morphology of living room carpet. After exhausting her research capabilities in the desert, she headed to (relatively) wetter climes in order to expand her research across diverse biomes. In her free time, Zia is a culinary enthusiast. Her favorite things to nibble on include leaves and fingers and string and the edge of the couch and blankets and her sister (Emma), though she admits to having a sweet tooth and enjoys licking bowls that once had ice cream in them. Her favorite movie is Gremlins.
Zia’s research interests: Zia is especially interested in investigating diurnal patterns of food delivery in the mountain West. Though a relatively extensive body of literature exists concerning this subject, relatively little work has been done when the food source is two busy graduate students. Excited to be working in Colorado, Zia’s work has the potential to inform best management practices for kitten feeding and provide kitten managers across the West with a template for a successful food delivery program. Preliminary results suggest that the food bowl should never be empty.
Zia’s selected publications:
Zia, 2019, Constant Movement: The art of looking like a shadow. Catbridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.
Zia et al., 2019, Is there ever enough food?: feeding patterns of kittens in the inter-mountain west. Journal of Cat Food Ecology 21(1): 1123-1123.
Zia et al., 2019, Movement patterns of captive strings and feathers. Journal of Prey 8(4): 54 – 89.