Turtle Researcher’s Award Rescinded Over Racy Student Photos

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A scientists’ group has rescinded an award to a turtle researcher who included pictures of scantily clad female students doing field research in his speech at a New York conference.

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports longtime Brazilian turtle researcher Dick Vogt showed the racy slides Thursday during the Joint Meeting of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in Rochester. Some slides were so risque that conference organizers added blue boxes to cover parts of the women’s bodies.

Conference attendees complained on Twitter that the slides were sexist and exploitative. The uproar prompted the Herpetologists’ League to rescind Vogt’s award for distinguished herpetologist on Friday.

The directors of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists tweeted that they “regretted” Vogt’s presentation.

The newspaper says Vogt has declined to comment.