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182 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2005 HENDERSON

Bob Powell examining an anole with a student in his lab at Avila University.

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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2005 183PROFILE OF ROBERT POWELL

Over the past 30+ years, I have had the good fortune of three
prolonged and prolific collaborations. The first was with

Dr. Henry Fitch. It began in the early 1970s, continued into the
late 1980s, and was briefly resurrected in the pages of this jour-
nal in 2003. I began my collaboration with Dr. Albert Schwartz
in 1982, and it continued until his untimely death in 1992. The
third collaboration, with Dr. Bob Powell, began in 1992 and, 14
years and 45 publications later, we’re still at it. Over the course
of this professional relationship, I have come to consider Bob a
good friend and someone whom I admire tremendously.

Born in Germany, but raised in Missouri (and eventually
earning his Ph.D. at the University of Missouri), Bob has had
an amazingly productive career as an educator and researcher.
He is Professor of Biology at Avila University in Kansas City,

Missouri. As a small, private school, the emphasis is on teaching
and not research. Despite a full teaching load, Bob has never-
theless found time to write books, edit journals, and produce
hundreds of research papers, often co-authored with under-
graduate students.

Employed as he is with a heavy teaching load and many
contact hours with students, it would have been easy for Bob to
relegate research to “hobby” status; i.e., publish an occasional
note here and there, based on some fortuitous observation made
on a class field trip. His passion for, and dedication to, her-
petology has prevented that from happening — and how has
Bob accomplished this? By involving undergrads with a serious
interest in biology in general, and perhaps amphibians and rep-
tiles in particular. In 1991, Bob applied successfully to the

P R O F I L E

Successfully Wearing Two Hats: 
A Profile of Robert Powell

Robert W. Henderson

Milwaukee Public Museum
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233

Photograph taken during the late 1970s before an attempt by Bob, friends, and students to excavate an underground passage in an Ozark Cave.
The “after” picture (apparently lost) showed less humanity and considerably more mud. Bob is on the left and John Parmerlee is second from the
right (according to John, their positions in the photo correspond rather accurately to their political leanings).

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National Science Foundation for a Research Experience for
Undergraduates (REU) grant. He and John Parmerlee then
recruited undergraduate students from throughout the U.S. to
participate in a 10-week summer program that would introduce
them to conducting original field research with reptiles and
amphibians in an “exotic” locale. Since the initial REU year, Bob
has led seven REU trips to the Dominican Republic, Anguilla,
Grenada, and St. Eustatius, and helped with another, organized
by Alicia Mathis and Bob Wilkinson at Southwest Missouri

State University (now Missouri State University), to Mexico.
Another trip, this one to St. Vincent, is slated for 2006.

184 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2005 HENDERSON

Meeting the local herpetofauna (Geochelone sp.) on a trip to Belém,
Brazil in the late 1980s. 

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Carrying dishes to the creek during the 1970s on an early trip with stu-
dents to Mexico; Bob uses this photo to imply that “everyone” has to
help in the field, even with tasks that are less than fun.

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Bob with a Puerto Rican Racer (Alsophis portoricensis) on Guana Island
in the British Virgin Islands in 2003.

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Bob in a “supervisory” posture with students on Grenada in 2002.

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IGUANA  •  VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2005 185PROFILE OF ROBERT POWELL

Prior to going in the field, the students gather at Avila,
where Bob and John make sure that they familiarize themselves
with the literature dealing with the frogs and reptiles they will
encounter (and with which they will ultimately attain a high
level of intimacy). They also learn something about the country
they are going to visit, including local customs, health issues,
conservation concerns, etc. Possible research projects are dis-
cussed, including methods that may be employed, equipment
required, germane statistical procedures, and so on. When they
get to the study locale, they hit the ground running. They have
three weeks to find a study site, finalize methods, and collect
data. Each student works on more than one project, making for
three weeks of intensive biology. As an instructor on three REU
trips, I know that it’s not unusual to be going from before sun-
up to well into the night. After the fieldwork, the students return
to Avila to analyze the data and write their research papers. This
is accomplished under the guidance of Bob and John. They
work with students on their statistical analyses and technical
writing, wanting each student to ultimately have one or more
publications as a result of the REU experience. Having those
publications will look good when they apply to graduate schools,
and Bob is adamant about students completing projects they’ve
started (even if completion occurs a year or two after their REU
experience). Powell knows this is in the students’ best interest,
and it reflects his three-pronged teaching philosophy: 1) provide
students with the opportunity to acquire, practice, and receive
reinforcement of fundamental knowledge and skills; 2) encour-
age students to think, question, analyze, and test; 3) design

courses that provide students with both realistic challenges and
opportunities for success. I have observed Bob apply this phi-
losophy over and over with REU students, and I’m sure he
employs it in the classrooms at Avila as well. He makes sure he
knows what each REU student is doing every day and monitors
the progress of each project.

Over the course of about 50 trips to the West Indies, Bob
has, either in collaboration with professional colleagues or with
REU students, studied various aspects of the ecology and behav-
ior of a broad taxonomic array of frogs and reptiles. He pro-
duced a herpetological guide to Navassa Island, examined niche
partitioning in several species of anoles, geckos, ameivas, and
curlytails, and has made observations on several iguanids
(Cyclura, Ctenosaura, and Iguana).

When it comes to fieldwork, Bob is tireless and, consider-
ing how out of shape he is, that’s pretty remarkable. He will
sprint after lizards and snakes, huffing and puffing but almost
always successful in his pursuit of some very surprised critters.
He will rise early in the morning and scout for similarly early-
rising lizards, and he will work late into the night, collecting data
on Anolis sleep-sites or gecko activity. Powell’s research focuses
heavily on lizards, and he is particularly (unnaturally?) fond of
anoles and iguanas. He has cited more than once a comment I
made initially in a letter of recommendation supporting an
application for a sabbatical at Avila. In effect, I noted that we
complement each other very nicely because he studies lizards
and I concentrate on the snakes that eat them. Over the years, I
have learned a great deal about lizards from Bob, and I think he

Bob climbing the “Castillo” at Chichen Itzá on the Yucatán Peninsula in 1980.

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knows a little bit more about snakes than he did before we
started to collaborate — and, at times, I believe that a little
knowledge can be dangerous; on a couple of recent trips, he
caught more snakes than I did, something he never lets me for-
get.

In addition to fieldwork, Powell has volunteered his time
to editing several herpetological publications. Between 1991 and
2004, Bob was editor of the Catalogue of American Amphibians
and Reptiles, published by the Society for the Study of
Amphibians and Reptiles. This often tedious and time-con-
suming responsibility produced detailed, loose-leaf accounts of
at least 20 species every year. While still editing the Catalogue,
Bob assumed the duties of editing this journal (IGUANA).
Besides the editing, Bob solicited articles from a wide spectrum
of potential contributors (zoo personnel, museum curators, his
REU students, of course, and even his son), sought interesting
illustrations, and wrote many articles himself. He has made a
substantial contribution toward the transformation of IGUANA
from a thin newsletter into a robust, attractive, and informative
journal. The scope of the journal has expanded recently, but it

has never lost sight of its original purpose of bridging gaps
between hobbyists and “professionals” by emphasizing common
interests in conservation, natural history, and husbandry. He also
has co-authored two books and co-edited two others concerned
with West Indian herpetology and, straying from the Antilles,
he co-authored a book with identification keys to the amphib-
ians and reptiles of the United States.

In short, I find much to admire about Bob, and to single
out one attribute is perhaps doing him a disservice. Nevertheless,
I shall. I never cease to be impressed by Bob’s dedication to his
students and to teaching. Although I only see him as a teacher
in the context of the REU program, he never stops doing what
he believes is in the best interest of the students. He gets down
and dirty in the field, makes himself available at all hours, and
will drive across an island at any hour of the day or night in
order to get that last bit of data that might make all the differ-
ence in the quality of a student’s project. He does his homework
regarding various statistical procedures necessary to adequately
analyze the data collected in the field. He does not hesitate to
contact colleagues that he feels can contribute to the analysis or
that might be a good collaborator or mentor for a student with
an especially strong interest in a particular topic. I have difficulty
imagining someone more dedicated to his students and to his
research discipline. A less focused person would quickly choose
to do one or the other well (that is, to wear one hat). Bob Powell
has devoted himself to both and has demonstrated excellence as
a concerned educator and a dedicated scientist.

Acknowledgments
I thank Bob’s long-time friend John S. Parmerlee, Jr., for pho-
tos, information, and suggestions.

186 IGUANA  •  VOLUME 12, NUMBER 3  •  SEPTEMBER 2005 HENDERSON

Bob on a WinAir flight to St. Eustatius in 2004. 

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Exploring the extent of a recent clear-cut in a high-elevation cloudfor-
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Helping measure and mark a sampling site on St. Eustatius in 2004.

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