Turtle expert Professor Fred Caporaso makes room for a special turtle

There’s always room in Professor Fred Caporaso’s Hashinger Hall office for another turtle.

The latest to join his collection of turtle and tortoise trinkets and photos is a handsome little figure of an ornate desert box turtle. The hand-carved sculpture is actually an award, the inaugural “Charlie Green Turtle Conservation & Education Award” given by the Turtle and Tortoise Preservation Group (TTPG).

At its recent conference in Mesa, Ariz., the TTPG presented Caporaso with the award, created to honor the memory of Charlie Green, a longtime rehabilitation expert who saved countless wild and pet reptiles.

Although Caporaso’s research area is food science, tortoises – particularly those of the Galapagos Islands – are another interest Caporaso has pursued and shared with Chapman University students on annual January interterm trips to the islands.