Just ask Griffin Alberts, 3, whose mother, Charlotte Herbert Alberts, received her doctorate in entomology June 15 at the UC Davis Graduate Studies Program commencement ceremony in the University Credit Union Center.
Charlotte donned a dark blue robe decorated with a gold-and-black butterfly pin and topped it off with a matching blue mortarboard, "the wizard hat."
Charlotte, who enrolled in the UC Davis doctoral program in 2015, described the ceremony "as especially meaningful and heartwarming." During her studies, she
- married her sweetheart, George Alberts, in 2018;
- moved cross-country to Silver Spring, Md., in 2020, during the COVID pandemic;
- birthed two children (Griffin, now 3, and Marcy, 7 months); and
- published two of her dissertation chapters on assassin flies, also known as robber flies.
Griffin could hardly wait to see "Mama become a wizard." Following the commencement, he delighted in trying on "Mama's Wizard Hat." The next day, when his grandparents asked him his favorite part of the ceremony, he quickly responded: "Watching Mama become a wizard!"
"It was great closure to walk across the stage!"Alberts said. "It was a non-linear adventure, with many bumps and hurdles along the way. But it's amazing feeling to finally cross the stage and be done! Especially with my parents, husband George, and my children watching!" (Watch the ceremony on YouTube)
Just recently Charlotte served as a teaching assistant for the Entomology 001 course, “Art, Science and the World of Insects," taught by UC Davis distinguished professor/artist Diane Ullman.
"Charlotte is an excellent scientist and fantastic artist," said Ullman, who chaired the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2004-2005.
Ullman served as Charlotte's principal investigator and advisor. Thesis committee members Torsten Dikow and Jason Bond, also advised her. Dikow is a research entomologist and curator of Diptera and aquatic insects, Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, and Professor Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Why assassin flies? “I chose assassin flies because I fell in love researching them as an undergraduate at St. Lawrence University,” she said. ‘They are fascinating flies and I like that they can immediately change someone's perspective of flies. Assassin flies are venomous, predatory flies that eat other insects! And they sometimes even look exactly like the creatures they eat. Example: bumble bees!”
Charlotte interned at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in the summer of 2014, working with Dikow on "identifying-to-genus" specimens of Asiliae. A graduate student fellowship followed (July-September 2016), with Dikow guiding her as her advisor.
"I currently work at the Smithsonian, publishing my last two chapters of my dissertation," Charlotte said. "I'm applying to post docs in the fall and taking the summer to enjoy time with my kids as much as possible!"
Looking back, the newly capped Dr. Alberts reiterated that she couldn't have done it without the support of her family, friends and advisors. Last year, following the publication of her first journal article (Zookeys: A New Species of Saropogon Loew, 1847 (Diptera, Asilidae) from Arizona, with a Review of the Nearctic Species North of Mexico), she enthused: “My family brings so much joy to my life, and fuels me to push forward, one step at a time!”
All those steps led to another cross-country trip, this time a return trip from Maryland to California to receive that much-anticipated doctorate.
And to don that "wizard hat."
If a wizard is defined as "a very skillful or talented person," then Griffin absolutely nailed it.
"Mama," he says matter-of-factly, "is a wizard."
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