Wet your Whistle Wednesday with paleontologist Kate Zeigler!

Dr. Kate Zeigler was born in Butte, Montana and raised in Houston, Texas, which was quite the culture shift. Fortunately, at the tender age of 3, she wasn’t aware of it. Known by some as Doc Ziggy, Kate has participated in field research in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Montana, North Dakota and the People's Republic of China. She was granted her B.A. from Rice University in 1999 in Geology and Anthropology and completed dual senior theses, both focused on paleoclimate. She obtained her M.S. from the Dept. of Earth & Planetary Science at the University of New Mexico with a focus on taphonomy and vertebrate paleontology of a mass death assemblage in the Upper Chinle Group in northern New Mexico.

Extracting a jacket at Snyder quarry.  (Photo provided by Kate Zeigler.)

She received her Ph.D. from UNM in 2008. The primary topic of her dissertation was magnetostratigraphy of the Upper Triassic Chinle Group of New Mexico, along with stratigraphic revisions of the Chinle Group and a preliminary magnetostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation in east-central Utah. She is currently involved in post-doctoral research at New Mexico Highlands University in conjunction with the Kansas Geological Survey and Kansas University. Research for this project is focused on developing a magnetic polarity chronology for the Ogallala Formation in order to reassess some of the previously developed hydrologic models for the high plains aquifer system(s). 

In terms of other professional activities, Dr. Z served on the Executive Committee of the New Mexico Geological Society from 2006 through 2011 and she is the new Chair of the Scholarship Program for grant-in-aid submissions for the Society. In October of 2012, Kate was named the NMGS Honorary Member and has co-chaired several fall field conferences and annual spring meetings for the Society. She is also the new Chair-Elect for the Rocky Mountain Section of the Geological Society of America.

And, as if that weren’t enough to keep somebody off the streets at night, Kate is also the sole owner of ZGC, LLC – a small independent consulting firm that has projects ranging from hydrogeology and structural mapping to geoarchaeology and paleontological survey. Clients include soil and water conservation districts, archaeological firms and petroleum companies, among others. She is also a long-distance runner and climber. Kate is owned by one very spoiled Doberman-mix, three cats, one gerbil and five box turtles. She is married to an engineer at Sandia National Labs who is very patient with the insane schedule of a field scientist.

Extracting a pmag core at PEFO.  (Photo provided by Kate Zeigler.)

Question 1:
At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

At about the age of 3, I decided I really wanted to be a Triceratops, but my parents eventually were able to convince me that this wasn’t really an option. The next best thing was to be a paleontologist and so from a very early age, I knew that was something I really wanted to do. My parents decided that I should have the opportunity to see if paleontology was really for me before I got all of the way through an undergraduate degree, so they sent me off on an EarthWatch expedition in eastern Montana with Doc Rigby Jr. I felt an immediate affinity for the work, from sorting screen wash all the way to field excavation of a rather beat-up Triceratops skeleton. I was very fortunate in that I was able to volunteer on expeditions for the Houston Museum of Natural Science as well, even as a (presumably obnoxious) teenager. Every experience just added to my desire to pursue a career in paleontology.

Question 2:
What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?

My favorite dinosaur when I was little was Triceratops and it still is. Although I do have a very special place in my heart for phytosaurs (they’re not dinosaurs, but they wormed their scaley way into my heart during my Master’s thesis).

Question 3:

Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

You make a very excellent point that paleontology relies on and interacts with so many other disciplines. I would suggest to an up and coming young paleontologist that they touch on as many of these other disciplines as they can, even if it’s just interacting with a colleague who has a different skill set. I think having a firm grounding in both biology and geology will stand you in good stead – paleontology bridges these two sciences and to fully understand the pile o’ bones you might be examining, you really need both the biological and the geological context for the critter. Consider that while the biological aspects of the fossil material may tell you a great deal about the animal – what it ate, how large it was, how it moved – the rocks that host that fossil have their own story to tell. The geologic records includes age data and environmental data that can help you really figure out much more of the story of that animal (or animals) than just the fossil itself.

Question 4:
Were there any subjects in college you dreaded?

Physics! Good grief. That one was a monster, to be sure. It’s ironic that I then went on to complete a dissertation in paleomagnetism, a branch of geophysics. I was nervous about chemistry and math, but was lucky enough to have amazing professors at Rice that made those subjects less scary. I’ve also found that teaching these subjects as part of an introductory geology class has helped me really take ownership of them (especially chemistry, shockingly).

Far shot of Snyder quarry NM.  (Photo provided by Kate Zeigler.)

Question 5:
What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects?

In terms of paleontology, I am obsessed with taphonomic studies – I love the interweaving of biology, ecology and geology that goes into a well-done tapho study. My master’s thesis work is still one of my all-time favorite projects. I’ve mostly moved on from paleontology and so my current projects include hydrogeology, structure and geologic mapping, magnetostratigraphy and geoarchaeology. I am involved in paleontologic survey and monitoring work for some pipeline corridors, but I won’t be researching anything I find. I’ll be turning those items over to others who have the facilities and the time to do a good job describing them. I’m actually really enjoying playing around the edges of hydrogeology – I’ve been fortunate enough to find a niche working with soil and water conservation districts in northeastern New Mexico who love going creek-stomping with “their” geologist.

Question 6:
Jurassic Park was the movie I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs. What was your most memorable movie?

I would say Jurassic Park also! I remember being absolutely breathless when the first animated dinosaur marched grandly across the screen! I think I might have even teared up a little bit.

Question 7:

I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck?

Yes, I was pretty nervous! My first encounter with professional paleontologists was as a volunteer crew member with Doc Rigby Jr on the EarthWatch expedition I mentioned previously. He certainly brooked no foolishness on his crews, but we had a great time. I learned a tremendous amount from him, not just about paleontology and field excavation methods, but also about science in general and how to build relationships with land owners, etc. I ended up participating in a second EarthWatch expedition with him and went on two expeditions to China. In general, I’ve enjoyed my interactions with other paleontologists (if I may be allowed to still claim the title) and nowadays, I hope that my skills with paleomagnetic data and general geology can be of use to my colleagues!

Question 8:
Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?

I’ve often wondered why we are so fascinated with dinosaurs. It seems like kids are genetically programmed to suddenly begin spouting out multisyllable dinosaur names beginning around 3 years old. For most, it seems to shut off just as abruptly as they get a little older, but I think we all go through that “I LOVE dinosaurs!!!” phase. Part of it may be the sheer oddness of their body plans. We have nothing like them today and our imaginations can reflesh those old bones in so many ways. And, of course, until someone gets their act together and builds a time machine, we don’t know for sure what many of the details are: skin color, feathers, other ornamentations, etc. To me, part of the fascination is that the animals and the rocks that host them give us a little peek into what the past of this planet was like. That’s just amazing to me.

Question 9:
What is your favorite time period?

I was pretty solidly a Triassic person for a long time, but now I’m growing quite fond of the Neogene since I’m working with the Ogallala Formation quite a bit these days. And the Permian – although not from a paleontological standpoint … from a stratigraphy perspective related to some fun geologic mapping I’ve been working on.

Geologic mapping Tularosa Basin NM.  (Photo provided by Kate Zeigler.)

Question 10:
I love Coelophysis! What is your favorite dinosaur from New Mexico?

Coelophysis too! What an amazing little critter. Not something you wanted to run into in a dark alley, to be sure.

Question 11:
Geology, among many disciplines of study, is such a vital subject when studying the past. Why do you feel this background is important to know when hunting dinosaurs?

I can’t emphasize how important geology is to paleontology. As mentioned earlier, you absolutely need to understand the context of the animal(s) you are studying. Geology gives you the background story about environment and ecology of the time. And it’s more than just “Oh, I found a bone in a layer of sandstone – must’ve been a river! Okay, done.” What about that river? Which way was it flowing? Was it high energy, low energy, flash flooding? Where was its source? Even the most basic geologic information takes the image of the animal in your mind and fills in the background: there were mountains to the west with Precambrian granite exposed and large, high energy rivers flowed eastward from them, etc. See? It makes the picture that much more interesting than just “Ooh! It’s got big teeth!”

KZ hydro work Union County.  (Photo provided by Kate Zeigler.)

Question 12:
New Mexico is my home away from home. I just returned from doing fieldwork there and it is where I attended college. Why do you feel this beautiful state is important in the world of geology and paleontology?

New Mexico has some of the most amazing and complete exposures of sedimentary rocks ranging from the Cambrian all the way into the Quaternary. There is such a diversity of rocks represented in New Mexico at the surface that hold an equally diverse range of animals. The wide range of rock units exposed in New Mexico allows us to begin to fill in gaps in the fossil record for the western United States. In addition, we have a truly amazing community of geoscientists here who collaborate on developing a much better understanding of how the western U.S. has evolved through time. Sure, we all squabble with each other now and again, but some of the leaps in our understanding that have occurred over the last few decades are just phenomenal.

Question 13:
What else do you enjoy? What other interesting hobbies do you have?

I absolutely love teaching introductory geology (weird, I know!) and interacting with my students. I can’t wait for the next lightbulb to go off over a student’s furrowed brow. I am a rock climber and have run a few marathons. I also crochet and knit and have been teaching myself to quilt. I enjoy gardening too. Unfortunately, my work schedule between the company and NM Highlands U. is usually so bat-sh*t crazy that I don’t get much time to do anything other than geology! But I absolutely love what I do and love the people I work for and you just can’t get much better than that.

Question 14:
Have you ever been to New Jersey?

Unfortunately, no. The closest I’ve been in Washington D.C. on a middle school trip. I do hope to travel east, though. The Newark Supergroup is the magnetostratigraphic bible for the Late Triassic and I feel I should pay homage to the amazing work done in NJ on these rocks. Also, one of the first dinosaurs described by the famous (or infamous) E.D. Cope came from New Jersey. Mr. Cope explored much of New Mexico too (and was apparently quite the character), so I enjoy the thought of that link between New Jersey and New Mexico.

Visiting the American Museum of Natural History as a kid!

My fascination with dinosaurs began in the 1980s when I was just a kid.  Long before Jurassic Park and Walking with Dinosaurs, my world of paleontology came from library books, Reading Rainbow, and the American Museum of Natural History.  One of the most memorable moments of my life was my mother taking me to the AMNH in New York City for the first time.  The dinosaurs halls looked very different then.  Luckily, my mom took pictures.  Looking at these pictures today is surreal.  I can still sense what it was like.  The smell of the museum, seeing the exhibits, & even asking my mom for one of those wooden dinosaur models from the gift shop.  Below are the few pictures I still have from my first visit to the American Museum of Natural History.  The last two comparison photos are of my son and me.  We are both standing in front of the famous T. rex for the first time around the same spot and age!

Interview with Dino 101's Betsy Kruk!

Betsy is a city girl turned partial cowgirl. Originally born and raised in a suburb of Chicago, she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Paleontology from Montana State University in 2012. There she competed on the equestrian team for 3 years, hence the cowgirl bit, as well as was a part of the second group of students to travel to China to study dinosaur eggs as a part of the Dinosaur Eggs and Education trip. Now she is living in the Great White North (a.k.a Canada) as a Master’s student working with Dr. Philip Currie. Her dinosaur of study is the exceptionally strange Pachyrhinosaurus (it’s even on a coin!), and she examines the histology, or microstructure, of the nasal boss to try to understand this bizarre structure. This past summer she was given the opportunity to be the main presenter for Dino 101.

Hadrosaur footprint from Paleontology Field Camp in 2010, near Choteau, Montana. (Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 1: You are currently involved in Dino 101 with Dr. Philip Currie at the University of Alberta.   Can you tell us a little about this project?

Dino 101 is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) all about dinosaurs and paleontology. We showcase the amazing vertebrate collections we have at the University of Alberta, as well as spectacular sites around Alberta, such as Dinosaur Provincial Park and the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. We talk about everything from appearances and anatomy, attack and defense, feeding, locomotion, and we even throw in a little geology and tectonics. The University of Alberta is the first Canadian university to offer a MOOC for credit; we have two versions of the class, PALEO 200, which is strictly the online course and PALEO 201 that is the in class experience. Of course there is the completely free version available on Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/course/dino101). There are over 18,000 people signed up on Coursera, last I checked. That’s insane! That’s 18,000 people who have seen my face, it’s a little intimidating.

Question 2: At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

                I have been interested in paleontology for as long as I can remember. But I definitely think it all clicked when I was 6 years old, we used to have weekly spelling quizzes in first grade and one week the extra credit words were paleontologist, dinosaur, and fossil. Once I knew how to spell paleontologist that was it, I’ve never wanted to do anything else. Sometimes I would briefly consider other career paths, but my young mind was incredibly rational. “I want to be an astronaut… no, I get motion sick too easily” “I want to be a veterinarian… no, I don’t like needles or cutting open animals.” It was ridiculous!

Question 3: What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?

                My favorite dinosaur growing up was Deinonychus; I used to run around pretending I was one, making a hook with my finger and holding it near my ankle. Nowadays, I think the focus of my research is becoming my favorite dinosaur, Pachyrhinosaurus. He doesn’t get much love probably because everyone thinks he’s so ugly, with that big lumpy boss on his face. We actually have a skull of one nicknamed Harvey that I often push around on a cart; I’ve brought him to a talk I gave as well as some of the classes I’ve taught. I have taken so many pictures of him and worked on several scientific illustrations that he’s really grown on me.

Question 4: Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

                For one, don’t give up. I’ve met so many people who said they wanted to study dinosaurs when they were younger, but they gave up on it. Also with that, you will hit some serious roadblocks in life. In university calculus kicked my butt; it was such a struggle. Another class was geomorphology, the teacher made it so difficult that you would fail every test, but then he would curve it so much that you miraculously passed. There are going to be times when you doubt yourself, just keep pushing through all the tough subjects you come across. Also, learn everything you can! The main disciplines of paleontology are geology and biology, don’t just major in one, do both! Or find a school that offers a paleontology option as part of a degree. Just don’t ever stop learning or pursuing your dream, it’s not going to be easy but it’s far more rewarding when you look back and see what you’ve overcome.

Inside the Forbidden City while I was in China conducting research on dinosaur eggs in 2011. (Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 5: Were there any subjects in college you dreaded?

                Calculus was the bane of my existence. I almost failed Calculus I and had to take Calculus II a second time before I passed. I really couldn’t see how calculus was going to help me as a paleontologist. We all used to think it was used as a weed-out class since it was required; we certainly lost some paleo undergrads to the wrath of derivatives and integrals.

Question 6: What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects?

                Definitely my Master’s thesis is my favorite project. I love histology! I get to take pieces of horns and frills and bosses from ceratopsians and make thin sections of them! I love being able to craft something with my hands and I find those slides to be absolutely beautiful. Bones do such odd things on a microscopic level and it’s really interesting to try to determine what it all means. From working to understand the histology of the nasal boss of Pachyrhinosaurus, I realized I had no idea what it should look like, so I increased my sample size and am looking at a bunch of different cranial structures of ceratopsians. Yes in a way I do destroy dinosaur bones, but they are from samples that will never be on display, are quite fragmentary, and essentially the only thing they are good for is research. So why not find out what hidden secrets they hold?

Question 7: What dinosaur films are your favorites?

                It’s not necessarily a film, but I absolutely love Dinosaur Train! It’s a kids show about a time traveling train which dinosaurs (and pterosaurs and marine reptiles) take all around the Mesozoic. It is by far the most educational and accurate dinosaur show out there, in my opinion. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Jurassic Park but I just can’t seem to keep my mouth shut and I have to point out all the inaccuracies. As a little kid I definitely loved the Land Before Time, up till number 3 and then I just gave up.

Question 8: I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck?

                The first paleontologist I met was Dr. Richard Kissel who used to work at the Field Museum in Chicago. I worked with him and several other high school students during the summer of 2007 as part of a program called Mastodon Camp. Maybe because I was a naïve high schooler I wasn’t really nervous. Fast forward a few years to my first SVP in 2011 and I was terrified. At that time I was advisor shopping and I really am nervous about talking to people I don’t know. My friend Lauren literally had to shove me to talk to Dr. Tim Rowe and I think I had to stalk my current advisor, Dr. Phil Currie, for several days until I finally found my chance to talk to him; he was the SVP President that year. Thank goodness for having older grad student friends when I was an undergrad.

Visiting Arches National Park, Moab, Utah for spring break 2012 because I love geology. (Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 9: Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?

                There is just something about the past that seems to excite people. Dinosaurs are unlike anything alive today, except birds of course. They were the biggest animals to have ever lived and they populated Earth for an expansive period of time. As we joke in the office, dinosaurs are sexy; you get more dinosaur lovers than say mosasaur lovers, which is kind of sad because mosasaurs are pretty awesome. There is just something about dinosaurs that drives people to obsess over them, I’m not sure if I can really explain it.

Structural Dome in Canyonlands National Park, Moab, Utah also spring break 2012. (Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 10: What is your favorite time period?

                The Cretaceous of course! You had this amazing radiation of forms in ceratopsians that occurred within North America alone. There were so many forms evolving in a small strip of western North America, with all of these crazy horns and frills. It’s absolutely incredible to see the amount of diversity in such a geologically short period of time.

Question 11: Coelophysis is my favorite dinosaur from the sites I work in! What is your favorite dinosaur from your fieldwork sites?

                Well my fieldwork is pretty limited to dinosaur eggs in Montana and China and PachyrhinosaurusI bonebeds. This past summer I only got out for two weeks to Grande Prairie, Alberta, filming for Dino 101 kept me quite busy. But Grande Prairie is where we find Pachyrhinosaurs; there are actually two bonebeds up there. Due to rain we only worked in one of these bonebeds, and we even had a small landslide that hampered our progress in the bonebed, it was a wet and muddy field season for me.

Climbing down into the Charlie Young Bonebed, Grande Prairie, Alberta 2013. (Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 12: Geology, among many disciplines of study, is such a vital subject when studying the past. Why do you feel this background is important to know when hunting dinosaurs?

                What’s the point of hunting dinosaurs if you don’t know where to find them? You need to be able to recognize the type of rock that they might be preserved in. Not only that, but there is some amazing paleoenvironmental clues that you could really miss out on if you don’t know anything about geology. What kind of setting was the dinosaur preserved in? Did it die in a flood? You need to know what rock is marine or from an inland fluvial system. You miss out on so much information if you don’t know geology, there are so many subtle hints that give you a greater understanding of the context your fossil is found in.

Question 13: Where can our audience go to learn more about your work and support what you do?

                Well for one I have a blog, it’s nothing special just me adventuring my way through grad school (www.pachyventures.blogspot.com). You could also donate to help build a museum in Grande Prairie that is named after Dr. Currie (http://www.curriemuseum.ca/support/donate/); again there are two Pachyrhinosaurus bonebeds in Grande Prairie which is important to my research. Or even donate to the University of Alberta Laboratory for Vertebrate Paleontology.  http://uofa.ualberta.ca/dinosaurs

Question 14: What else do you enjoy? What other interesting hobbies do you have?  I know you are an avid gamer and we are friends on XBOX Live! 

                Depending on the year I’ve been known to do a variety of physical activities, the list of sports I have done is a long one. Right now it’s water polo and dance aerobics. I also have a 4-month-old Lab/Border Collie cross named Huck and I frequently ride horses. I am currently working my way through the Wheel of Time series, it’s seriously like being in a committed relationship, that series is 14 books long and I am on book 8; I love to read fantasy books though. I also know far too much about Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. RPGs, or role-playing games, are my favorite video games, examples being the Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, and Fable.

(Photo provided by Betsy Kruk)

Question 15: My first conversation with you was funny and educational.  I enjoyed having you laugh at my Jersey accent ha ha…and educational because you are very passionate about your work.  What are your future goals?  Any plans on visiting the East Coast or have you been in the past?

                I don’t think I had every heard an actual Jersey accent until I talked to you. Future goals would include finishing my Master’s and moving on to my PhD, hopefully still at the University of Alberta. One day I would like a job that allows me to do research and play in the dirt. Currently I have no plans to visit the East Coast, sorry I love my mountains (real mountains) too much. I visited Washington DC twice when I was younger, and that’s about as East Coast as I have been.

Thank you very much for your time Betsy! 

Science Sunday with paleontologist Matthew Bonnan!

Matthew Bonnan is a vertebrate paleobiologist and an Associate Professor of Biology at Stockton University in New Jersey. His research focuses on the evolution of locomotion in sauropod dinosaurs and more broadly on the evolution of forelimb posture in reptiles, birds, and mammals. His research combines traditional anatomical approaches with computer-aided modeling, and recently XROMM (X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology) to reconstruct the three-dimensional movements of limb bones in live mammals and reptiles. He lives in Hammonton, New Jersey, with wife and fellow academic Jess Bonnan-White, his two children, Quinn and Max, and several pets.

Question 1: 

You are one of my heroes in the field of paleontology.  Who did you admire growing up?

Hi, Gary. I’m flattered to be considered someone’s hero – it’s an honor! Have you met me? =) Growing up, I suppose several people who authored books on science and paleontology would vie for that title, including Bob Bakker, Greg Paul, and Carl Sagan. Honestly, though, it was Dougal Dixon who would prove to be the most inspiring because he responded to a type-written letter I sent him. I was thirteen and had read his book, Time Exposure. In that book, he made the argument that Tyrannosaurus rex was probably not fast and likely a scavenger. This did not sit well with me, and I wrote him, marshalling what data I could from the books in my bedroom, to explain why he was wrong. He not only responded, but was kind and encouraging even though he disagreed with some of my “theories.” It taught me a valuable lesson – in science, we can disagree without having to be disagreeable.

Question 2:

At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology? 

I was five when I decided to be a paleontologist, but I don’t actually know why I decided that – I didn’t really have an “aha” moment like some people describe. Instead, I just got to really liking dinosaurs and reptiles in general, and that was how it went. Also, my fascination for dinosaurs waned like it does for many kids. Truth be told, I was also very fascinated by sound effects in movies and how soundtracks are edited. As a little kid, I would buy the records (I know, right, vinyl before it was cool!) of movies like Star Wars and listen to the music passages over and over until they were part of my DNA. Then if I saw the movie again, I would mentally note how they changed the music to fit a scene, and would try to replicate that on my cassette player at home. In college, I even did a stint as a DJ and got to edit and remix music for a show. I still do that as a hobby, so music production and editing might have won out.

But in middle school, out of boredom, I picked up a book on a bookshelf that Barrie Jaeger, a friend of my mother’s, had given me when I was five. It was John C. McLoughlin’s book, Archosauria: A New Look at the Old Dinosaur, and I was now old enough to read and understand it. And it blew my little mind. Here were dinosaurs that could be covered with feathers, or warm-blooded! His descriptions of herds of sauropods being following theropods was just so arresting to my middle-school mind, and I realized dinosaurs were actually pretty cool. It was around this same time that the books by Bakker and Paul were published, and I read those cover to cover, and was insanely jealous of the artwork. So, by the time I entered high school, it was pretty clear I was going to be a paleontologist for real … at least in my mind.

Question 3:

What was your favorite dinosaur growing up?  What dinosaur is your favorite now?

My favorite dinosaur growing up was Apatosaurus, although I did like Deinonychus and Velociraptor before they were cool. =) Something about sauropods was always fascinating – the size, the long necks, the image of these giants migrating across the landscape. My favorite dinosaur now is Aardonyx – I did help discover and name it, so there is some bias there.

Question 4:

Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines.  What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

Paleontology is interdisciplinary, so you have to be flexible and open to different experiences. I think it’s important to identify your strengths and weaknesses and your likes and dislikes, and that’s why volunteering and internships are so important. You will never understand any science until you do it, so any experiences are valuable. For example, I think we give young people a skewed idea of what modern paleontology is about. There’s this an unspoken assumption that all of us are great in the field and spend every summer digging out new specimens. Some of us certainly are, but I am not among those who do. I found that anatomy and functional morphology (how the shape of the skeleton informs us about how it works) were my strengths and where my excitement in research lies. I have had the privilege of going to the field many times, but my strength is not in geology and field work. The discovery of Aardonyx, for example, was a team effort, and my role was assessing the anatomy and functional morphology of the dinosaur. But other members of the team helped us figure out when in time it was and the geological context – Johann Neveling, for example, is an outstanding field geologist, and were it not for his expertise we might not have any good idea about when and under what circumstances Aardonyxcame to be buried. Adam Yates is an outstanding taxonomist, and so he was able to establish the species based on his expertise.  And we were blessed to work with AnusuyaChinsamy-Turan who did the bone histology work which showed us Aardonyx was young and still growing. I guess what I’m getting at is that modern paleontology is diverse and requires integrated teamwork. Ideally, you all bring your joy and expertise to a problem or project, and the end result is bigger and better than the sum of its parts.

I suppose my strongest advice is go where the opportunities are and study the things that fewer people are looking at. Don’t pigeon-hole yourself too early and be flexible. There are so many things to study, and a great strategy is to study the organisms that fewer people are interested in at that time. In this way, you become a rare expert on a group of organisms or a part of their anatomy that few other people are, and that opens doors because it makes you a more valuable collaborator. As I found for myself, almost any organism or anatomy or evolutionary history is bound to have mysteries and questions to solve.

Question 5:

Going to college these days and then on to grad school has become a daunting task.  Many people are unaware of how long it takes to make it to the finish line.  The rewards are great, but what would you say to someone pursuing professional studies after college?

To me, the most difficult part of going to graduate school was watching my peer group get jobs, settle down, have families, and all of that other life stuff. I think it can be emotionally trying even if you are steadfast in your pursuit of research and you are doing something you love. You’re spending most of your 20s and in some cases part of your 30s earning very little, living paycheck to paycheck, and playing a game of calculated risk. After a while, it feels like your family and friends are looking at you like, “what are you doing with their life?” Sometimes people tell you something like that to your face.

I wrote a recent blog post on this topic, so to reiterate that a bit, I would say there is no one path to success. In the sciences, there can be this unspoken (or spoken) assumption that success is defined narrowly by landing a research job in a big lab with lots of graduate students. But there are many opportunities for those who can combine teaching and research. And you often end up working in teams these days, so many of us partner with different people in different labs or field stations, collaborating to use all sorts of equipment and supplies that would not be available to any one individual.

The good news is, once you manage to land a professorship, you often find that you will catch up with and in some cases surpass your peer group in terms of the life stuff. But there is no doubt going to graduate school is a difficult choice and a commitment. This is why you have to love what you do to get you through the difficult and financially poorer times. And to come full circle back to being flexible, don’t limit yourself in terms of what jobs you will or won’t take. Certainly, know your value and be true to yourself, but if you only wait for a particular type of position, you are often severely limiting your job prospects.

Question 6:

What was or is your favorite research project?  What are some of your current projects?

I suspect I am like a lot of scientists I know in that the current project tends to be the favorite project because that is where your mental energies and excitement are directed. To be fair, the discovery and description of Aardonyx was a highlight I will forever treasure. But since graduate school I have had nagging questions about forelimb posture in dinosaurs that were just not getting answered to my satisfaction using shape analysis and anatomical study. I felt I had sort of reached the end of what I could learn with morphometrics and comparative anatomy about four or five years ago, and wanted to do something I had always dreamed of doing since graduate school: x-ray movies of live reptiles and birds to see how their bones moved when they were alive.

I am grateful to Beth Brainerd, Stephen Gatesy, David Baier, Peter Falkingham, and the XROMM practitioners at Brown University for providing an unbelievable opportunity to learn their technique. For those who don’t know, XROMM allows you to reconstruct three-dimensional moving X-rays of live animal skeletons! One of the lessons that has slowly but surely sunk into my head is that when doing science, especially something new to you, start simple and get complex over time. Ideally, doing X-ray movies of alligators would have been fantastic, but the logistics of doing that right off the bat would have been daunting and dangerous. But then it occurred to me that forelimb posture in early mammals is debated (it seems early mammals had a less-than-erect forelimb posture), and so far as I could tell there were few studies on live bone movements (in vivo kinematics) on rat forelimbs. So what I’ve been up to the past three years has been learning XROMM and filming and analyzing rat forelimb skeleton movements. And it’s been fascinating. And I can’t say too much more because we’ve got a paper on this very thing that will come out sometime later this year, so you can all find out then.

I was fortunate in the meantime to receive internal support and support from various New Jersey funding streams to begin assembling my own XROMM lab at Stockton! Our lab director, Justine Ciraolo, is just the best and has been so supportive in getting our lab setup.  It helps as well to work with an amazingly friendly and helpful animal caretaker, John Rokita. I also have this fantastic physics colleague, Jason Shulman, who has been a great collaborator – there’s a lot of physics involved with any analysis of movement! We (my undergraduate students and I) currently have bearded dragons and monitor lizards, and we’re training those to run on a treadmill – that’s so they stay in front of cameras and X-ray equipment long enough to capture their step cycles. Yes, I know, lizards are not archosaurs and they’re not anywhere close to the size of sauropods, but they are in the size range of many of the early ancestors of dinosaurs and the earliest archosaurs had a non-erect forelimb posture. So we’ll see what we find. Bone form and function go together, and my hope is that once we learn more about how the bones of the forelimb move in living reptiles, we can compare the shapes to fossil reptiles and start putting some brackets on what was and was not possible in terms of movement. It’s all very exciting for me!

Question 7:

Jurassic Park was the movie I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs.  What was your most memorable movie?

Honestly, it was the Star Wars trilogy and the Indiana Jones movies that were my favorites growing up, and Jaws was in there too. I was a bit too old for Jurassic Park to fuel my passion, but I do remember being blown away by what were then amazing special effects. But I was also interning for Jim Kirkland, Dinamation International Society, and the Museum of Western Colorado that summer (1993), and so I was already being skeptical about what was projected on the screen.

Question 8:

I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist.  Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met?  Were you a nervous wreck?  

I was in 6^th or 7^th grade when I met my first paleontologists at the Field Museum in Chicago – I grew up in Roselle, Illinois, which is in the Northwest suburbs around Chicago. I remember my mom took to me to a special kid and adult event on dinosaurs at the Field Museum and there was a lecture on dinosaurs by Bill Simpson and some other paleontologists at the museum. I nervously raised my hand and asked a question about coelurosaurs being related to birds (this was ~1986) and I was relieved that my question was answered professionally and seriously!  I think none of us realize the effect we have on others and how what seem simple gestures at one time can have profound and lasting impacts on someone’s life.

Question 9:

Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures.  Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?

I think dinosaurs stir the wonder and mystery that enthralls all of us. A dinosaur skeleton confronts you with the realization that on this same planet were different times and pasts that were alien but also very, very real. It’s that vertigo sense of deep time – that things have not been static but have and continue to change. Dinosaurs put things in perspective – there is no such thing as a typical time on Earth.  I know many paleontologists grow weary of answering questions about the death of the dinosaurs (well, the non-avian dinosaurs), but I think that does play a role in their popularity. Here you had these amazingly diverse and successful animals and then in a geological blink they were gone, perhaps under fairly catastrophic circumstances. If non-avian dinosaurs could go extinct, what about us? It’s fairly deep and heady stuff.

As a kid in the 1980s, I “knew” that birds had to be dinosaurs from reading books like Bakker’s Dinosaur Heresies, and so I think what has been mind-blowing to see is how much the acceptance of birds as dinosaurs has changed. When I was a Kindergartener in the 1970s, everyone “knew” the dinosaurs were gone for good. Now, we see them all around us – you can reach out and touch a live dinosaur! But I think it also shows us that dinosaurs were animals, and to truly understand them, we have to understand, preserve, and respect their living relatives and the great diversity of creatures that we co-inhabit the planet with.

Question 10:

What is your favorite time period?

Well, that’s a hard one. Not too long ago I would have told you the Jurassic period because that is when sauropods first became huge. But the Triassic is really pulling my heartstrings lately –that’s when the forelimbs of dinosaurs and mammals began a transition from a less to a more erect posture, and I want to know more about that.  The Cretaceous gets all the press, and for many good reasons, but I have come to value the beginnings of the Mesozoic to be equally intriguing because that is foundation upon which the great Cretaceous diversity was built upon.

Question 11:  Where can folks go to learn more about your research?

I have a blog called The Evolving Paleontologist: http://matthewbonnan.wordpress.com/

You can also follow me on twitter: @MattBonnan

Question 12:

What’s your favorite drink?

Bourbon and coke.

Gary:  Thank you! 

Tap Talk Tuesday with paleontologist Kevin Maximo Madalena!

Photo provided by Kevin Maximo Madalena.

My name is Kevin Maximo Madalena and I am geologist/paleontologist. I am from, and a member, of The Pueblo of Jemez, New Mexico. I am from a reservation which is located in northwest New Mexico. I am helping my tribe with our natural resources and to preserve our culture which includes our fossil and cultural record. I went to school at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Earth Science and I have worked as an assistant to the Collections Manager/Conservator at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, and as a field geologist with my Pueblo's Natural Resources Department and currently a wonderful undertaking in trying to use geothermal energy as a renewable resource so my people may have energy and jobs!

Question 1: 

You are one of my heroes in the field of paleontology. Who did you admire growing up?

Aww.. Gary, I am very flattered by your very kind words and thank you, and I am a huge fan of your website and blog as well! Growing up a normal boy in a very rural reservation in northwest New Mexico, I admired a lot of people growing up, from Jerry Rice, Magic Johnson, my grandparents to Robert Bakker I had a group of people I really admired, but my parents are the ones that have had my true admiration because of their hard work, sacrifice, unconditional love and support in raising my three brothers, sister and I.

Question 2:

At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in paleontology?

I personally and honestly don’t remember in how early I started, but my parents do recall it was a very early start! During my father’s infant political career and service, he was the Tribal Administrator here at home in Jemez Pueblo starting from 1978. During his regular obligations in the trips for tribal business in Washington D.C, my father would stop at the Smithsonian Institute and regularly buy me dinosaur and ancient life and earth books. During my early learning years, starting from headstart, I remember receiving those books from his luggage every time he returned from Washington D.C at around being five years old! Also, my mom reinforced my love for dinosaurs as she always purchased the old large bags of tiny plastic dinosaurs we used to find in the supermarkets!  I never outgrew this fascination with dinosaurs and ancient life and I have been hooked and compelled ever since!

Photo provided by Kevin Maximo Madalena.

Question 3:

What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?

As with all little children, especially boys, growing up with dinosaurs, Tyrannosaurus rex is really the main reason why we are fans of dinosaurs! In general, I absolutely love giant theropods, but Tyrannosaurus rex is still, and always be my favorite dinosaur. Actually, Tyrannosaurus is really the main reason why I became a paleontologist!

Question 4:

Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today?

When an aspiring paleontolgists are working their way up the ladder of paleo-edification, albeit being an enthusiast or an undergraduate, one has to approach the field with an open mind. My main suggestion and advice to anyone studying paleontology is to immerse oneself to paleobotany, invertebrate paleontology, sedimentlogy and stratigraphy, vertebrate paleontology and the like, to see what aspect of the field my intrigue you. An aspect, or a topic of research from a particular discipline of paleontology might capture and pique an interest if one becomes enlightened in paleontology as a whole!

Question 5:

Coelophysis is my favorite dinosaur that roamed New Mexico.  What is your favorite dinosaur from New Mexico?

I will say, Tyrannosaurus rex is my favorite New Mexico dinosaur! Tyrannosaurus is found in the Late Cretaceous McRae Formation in the southern part of the Land of Enchantment, Tyrannosaurus indet. Is also found in the Ojo Alamo Sandstones in the San Juan Basin, northwest New Mexico. Finally the first ichnogenus (foot print trace fossil) of Tyrannosauripus pillmori of T.rex was discovered new Cimarron, New Mexico as well! Ceolophysis is also a personal favorite as well!

Photo provided by Kevin Maximo Madalena.

Question 6:

What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects?

My favorite research project is embarking in how the Paleozoic sections are positioned here inside the reservation in Jemez Pueblo. Massive uncomformities, overturned sections, deformation and large amounts of chopped up blocking and faults made by the Laramide orogony activity of the Nascimiento Uplift on Jemez Pueblo’s Westside, have made this endeavor quite the challenge. There are large amounts of vertebrate fossil material tumbling out of these massive faults, (including Dimetrodon and Eyrops!) but finding the origins of some of the loose and numerous post cranial material has been frustrating! It is my favorite because it is extremely challenging!

My current project is trying to similarly figure out in how the Late Triassic age Moenkopi, Salitral, Agua Zarca, Petrified Forest Formations of the Chinle Group is distributed around lands belonging to my people here in Jemez Pueblo. There are currently animals coming out of all the mentioned formations, especially an extremely large individual of the metoposaur Koskinonodon (Buettneria), many parts and dermal scutes of phytosaurs, and aetosaurs, shuuvosaurids, and the diapsid archosauromorph Trilophosaurus. (No dinosaurs yet!) These sections are similarly chopped up by the Nascimiento Uplift, but my future goal is to try and match up the corresponding temporal sections to the Dockham Group in Texas, the Ghost Ranch and the Petrified National Forest in Arizona!

Question 7:

Jurassic Park was the movie I remember as a kid that fueled my passion for dinosaurs. What was your most memorable movie?

Wow, Jurassic Park was the movie that continued to stoke the fire inside of me for paleontology as well, so I still consider the movie as one of my most memorable! Jurassic Park is 1A on my list for being influential but the number one movie would be the 1978 science fiction Planet of Dinosaurs! The stop-motion animation of the movie’s dinosaurs are great!

Question 8:

I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck?

I first met my professional paleontologist when I was about ten years old. My parents took my brothers and I to the grand opening of The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque in the year 1986. Dr. Spencer Lucas was hosting a question and answer forum, and much to my nervous delight, my dad helped me walk up to him and asked him if there were any Tyrannosaurus rex remains in New Mexico. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck because I was talking and stammering going a thousand miles per hour! I was elated that he answered my question!

Question 9:

Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel dinosaurs continue to fascinate us?

I think dinosaurs keep fascinating us because they were enormous, enigmatic and our imaginations have completely run amok in what these animals are! Even with all the current research, we still don’t have an actual picture in what these animals actually look like, what color they were (with the exception of Archaeopteryx), and how they lived in families units of packs or herds and behavior. Fossil material can only teach us so much!

Question 10:

What is your favorite time period?

My favorite time period is the Cretaceous Period. I will shamelessly admit that I am a theropod myopian! We all know that the theropods grew their biggest and the most variety during the last age of the dinosaurs! During my years of employment at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, I have had the wonderful opportunity to work in the Late Cretaceous age badlands of the San Juan Basin and have witnessed parts of dromaeosaurs, ornithomimosaurs and tyrannosaurs weathering out of sections right into the top of the bentonitic clays! I have had the extreme pleasure in working in the San Juan Basin with Dr. Thomas Williamson, and in a different time, Dr. Robert Sullivan.

Photo provided by Kevin Maximo Madalena.

Question 11:

I consider New Mexico my home away from home and where I still participate in my college's field classes. What is about New Mexico that makes it so unique for hunting prehistoric animals?

There are many reasons whey New Mexico is very unique for hunting the remains of prehistoric animals! New Mexico is located in the southern eastern edge of the Colorado Plateau which have the Paleozoic- Mesozoic age very fossil rich stratas from the San Juan Basin, the Hagan Basin,  Tucumcari Mountian’s Late Triassic sections, New Mexico’s portion of the Permian Basin and the mammalian fossil dominated Espanola Basin, and the Ghost Ranch to name a few in the vicinity of lands owned by the State of New Mexico have had an extremely rich variety of fauna in the fossil record and have contributed immensely to paleontology and was a part of the famous Bone Wars with E.D Cope and Othniel Marsh! A lot of the geologic sections in New Mexico have not been mapped thoroughly, or analyzed using paleo magnetism, stratigraphy and other analytical methods, because of the vastness of lands within the state and many of the reservation lands of the nineteen Pueblos, the Navajo Nation and the two Apache tribes are off limits. There is still so much potential here in New Mexico, but we just need more time!

Question 12:

Geology, among many disciplines of study, is such a vital subject when studying the past. Why do you feel this background is important to know when hunting dinosaurs?

I sincerely believe, and it is of my opinion, that having a geology background is the only way to go in delving into paleontology. When I started as an undergraduate at New Mexico Tech in Socorro, New Mexico, I attempted to get into paleontology through the means of evolutionary biology.  In 1995, the late Dr. David Norman at New Mexico Tech was my first advisor, and he made a very important point that changed my way of thinking permanently. I attempted to jump ship from the Earth and Environmental Sciences to the Biology Department. “Well Kevin, you need to learn and know where to look in time to find your critters.” I have stayed in Earth Science ever since!

Question 13:

The Triassic is my favorite time period. Why do you love it?

I am happy to see that the Triassic is your favorite time period! For a bit, the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods were really the only time in the geologic age that had my full on attention because of the Dinosaurs. During my time at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, I met my wonderful colleagues Doctors Kate Zeigler, Sterling Nesbitt and Randall Irmis, along with an acquaintance Dr. Andrew Heckert. This extremely bright and the best group, taught me the importance of the Triassic Period research and how New Mexico fits in the research as a whole. I learned immensely of the faunas coming out of Tucumcari, the Ghost Ranch and its surrounding areas. I was open to change and I discovered how naïve I was in what other vertebrate species were alive other then phytosaurs, Coelophysis and Postosuchus! The Triassic Period is currently a favorite as well because of the work here at home!

Photo provided by Kevin Maximo Madalena.

Question 14: 

What else do you enjoy? What other interesting hobbies do you have when you are not doing research?

I really enjoy being a single father of my two daughters, Sofia and Araceli. Raising them and watching them grow and develop has been the greatest thrill, and honor of my life! I enjoy playing and spending time with my children as well. I really enjoy reading science fiction and history, collecting action figures and continuing on in being a farmer here in Jemez Pueblo during the spring and summers, and into the harvest! We are an agricultural tribe and I love to continue on the tradition of the old ways. Finally, I enjoy jogging as well!

Question 15:

Have you ever been to New Jersey?

I have never been to New Jersey Gary.. If I am in the vicinity for work or in that direction, it will be my first time ever to visit, in visiting you Buddy!

Frothy Fossil Friday with Paleontologist Penny Higgins!

Howdy fans!  I am so excited to bring you an interview with one of my favorite women in the field of science, Penny Higgins! For those of you who don't know, Penny Higgins is a Research Associate at the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY. Her scientific specialties are vertebrate paleontology and light-isotope geochemistry. She applies geochemical methods to fossils and the rocks that encase them to learn about ancient climates and climate change, and to gain insight into the paleobiology of long-extinct vertebrates, usually mammals. Penny has managed the Stable Isotope Ratios in the Environment, Analytical Laboratory (SIREAL) in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences for a little more than eight years now, where she completes all of her geochemical analyses. She also teaches courses in introductory geology and paleontology at the University of Rochester.

Hanna Basin of Wyoming back in 2009. I'm looking for plant fossils associated with the PETM.

When she’s not busy doing science, she engages in other hobbies that include writing fiction, maintaining a blog (http://paleopix.com/blog), and studying the historical European martial arts (the knightly arts of swordplay). She’s also the wife of a mechanical engineer, and mother to a wonderful boy on the Autism Spectrum. Follow her on Twitter (@paleololigohttps://twitter.com/paleololigo) to see how she juggles all this.

Penny is an amazing woman and I hope you all enjoy this interview as much as I did.

Question 1: Who did you admire growing up in the science field? 

I always loved science. Every bit of it. I ate it up! My first exposure to scientific thinking was watching Cosmos with Carl Sagan. (Wow, what would this world be like if he were still alive?) I was fascinated by all sciences, but found that the life sciences really drew me in. I really loved the PBS series Nature, with George Page. I was fascinated by how animals moved and related to each other. I envisioned myself one day studying cheetahs on the Kalahari.

"Me and Snowball Boliva 2007" was taken in Quebrada Honda Bolivia in 2007.

Question 2: At what age did you get inspired to pursue a career in geology? 

Sometime in middle school I found my first fossil. It was a bryozoan called Archimedes. I still have the specimen. I use it in my teaching. At about that same time, I also developed an interest in comparative vertebrate anatomy (though I had no idea that there was really such a field of study). I was a horse-obsessed girl and I noticed that horses and humans had all the same bones. So did dogs and alligators. A light went on! Evolution suddenly made sense to me (though at the time, I saw it in a very Lamarkian way), and I realized that a person can reconstruct what an animal looked like based only on its bones. Bones hold the key to muscle attachment and motion and therefore behavior. It was an exciting time for me, and I took what I understood and designed all sorts of fantastical creatures, some of which I painted and posted here (http://paleopix.com/blog/2012/11/26/i-once-was-an-artist/).

Sometime in high school, it seemed I ran out of ideas. It was probably more a matter of I had learned enough about vertebrates that I knew even my ‘realistic’ creations weren't really possible. I thought back on that Archimedes fossils I have and it occurred to me that I could continue reconstructions of vertebrates using fossils. I wanted to study dinosaurs and be one of those artists that did all the fantastic paintings. I learned that paleontology was a subdiscipline of geology, so I decided to be a geology major in college. 

"Archimedes" is a photo of the first fossil I ever collected. It's labeled now, because I use it in teaching.

Question 3: What was your favorite dinosaur growing up? What dinosaur is your favorite now?

Y’know, I wasn't really that dinosaur-crazy as a kid. I think I had some dinosaur toys, but I didn't really know their names. Most of my toys were horses. My favorite dinosaurs (the ones I actually knew the names of) were Parasaurolophus and Triceratops. I still like Triceratops, and all the ceratopsians. They remind me of rhinos, and I love rhinos. The one painting I did in high school that I gave to my mother is of a rhinoceros. Something about tank-like vertebrates just attracts me.

Question 4: Paleontology is such a diverse field these days involving many disciplines. What advice would you give to an aspiring paleontologist today? 

At this point, I have a canned lecture that I give aspiring paleontologists when they show up at my office door. They always have interesting and amazing concepts of what being a paleontologist is and what it will be like. Most think that they can make a good comfortable living as a paleontologist. Some have visions of finding the next “Sue” and selling it for millions of dollars. Most think that all paleontology is dinosaurs. I tell the ones that come expecting to make their millions as paleontologists that they’re talking to the wrong person. I’m a scientist, not a businessman. Then I go on to my ‘harsh reality’ speech, that I hate to give, but I always do.

Fact is, if you want to be a paleontologist, you need a good plan B, because plan B will be your plan A. I am a vertebrate paleontologist, but that’s not why I have a job. I’m employed because I’m also an isotope geochemist. That’s my plan B. The great thing is there are lots of good plan B’s that will let you be a great paleontologist. Paleontology can be approached from two directions, either from the biology standpoint or the geology standpoint. People who approach paleontology from biology can find work as anatomists (teaching anatomy at medical schools, for example). Or they study ecology and evolution. Often they are interested in DNA and are very good at cladistics. 

If you take the geology approach to fossils, then you think more about the fossils as part of the rock they come from. You’re interested in sedimentary environments and rock types. You think about environments. You measure rock thicknesses. You carry a hammer and a bottle of acid. As a geoscientist, you can work in environmental remediation and geochemistry. You can study climate change. There’s a lot of interest in that.

I went the direction of geochemistry, which overlaps quite a bit between geology and biology, but is primarily geological. I study ancient climate change and gain insight into behavior of ancient extinct animals.

"Isostylomys notes" is a photo of part of an incisor of a giant rodent called Isostylomys.

Question 5: Geology is one of my favorite subjects! Why do you feel geology is such an important field in regards to paleontology? 

When I tell people that paleontology is actually a subdiscipline of geology, they are usually surprised, but fundamentally it makes sense. Fossils come out of rocks, and the rocks provide a ton of context for understanding the fossils. Rocks themselves contain a wealth of information. The type of rock and its individual components are generally indicative to a particular environment. A clean quartz sandstone usually represents either a beach or sand dunes. Cross-bedding and other features can help you tell the difference. Limestone can only form under water. When you find fossils in these sorts of rocks, you know something about the environment in which the animal lived.

You can also study how the rocks in one area relate to rocks in another area. Or how they change over time. From this you can understand how environments differed geographically at one time in Earth’s ancient past, or how environments changed over time. Geology teaches us about the antiquity of the Earth, and of life on this planet, and provides a time scale upon which we can think about the evolution of life. The Earth is mind-bogglingly old. It’s hard to wrap your mind around. But when you study geologic processes it starts to make sense. You can put the rocks in order, from oldest to youngest, using only geological principles. When you’re done, you can place fossil discoveries on this time scale and witness evolution. Without geology, all we have are a bunch of fossils and no means to see how they relate to one another. Geology is necessary. 

Hanna Basin of Wyoming.

Question 6: What was or is your favorite research project? What are some of your current projects? 

Over the years, I've gotten to do some pretty cool stuff. Unlike most vertebrate paleontologists, I do not specialize in any particular group of animals. Instead, I focus on a method, stable isotope geochemistry. What makes a project interesting to me is taking isotopic analysis and applying it to problems in paleontology. I don’t know if I want to point at a single ‘favorite’ project, but some are really, really exciting. Some projects are great because of where I get to go. I've been to Bolivia, Uruguay, and to the Canadian High Arctic. Some projects are cool because I get to work with poorly known, but giant, animals, like giant rodents or ground sloths, or the unusual endemic South American mammals, the Notoungulates. Some projects are exciting because I get to work with novel methods. With the ground sloth project, we’re actually trying to measure body temperature directly from the ancient beasts!

Some projects have practical applications, in terms of understanding the impacts of environmental changes on animals. One of my major research thrusts is a study of climate change at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. This was a period of rapid global warming (called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM) which is blamed on a sudden increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide, a scenario not unlike what we think we’re seeing today. Studying the PETM gives us a chance to look at the impact of warming on animals as well as to see what the actual environmental changes are. One of my research thrusts is to determine if the climate ever fully recovered from the PETM, or if it was forever altered. As it happens, mammalian species were heavily affected. I think that’s cause for concern.

Here are some links to blog posts about some of these projects.

My blog post on giant rodents

My blog post on ground sloths

My blog post about my research on the Paleocene-Eocene boundary 

San Juan Basin Colorado.

Question 7: What was your most memorable movie, book or TV program as a kid that inspired you to pursue science? 

As I noted above, I think it was watching Cosmos with Carl Sagan back when I was a kid that inspired me to pursue science. At the time, I wasn't sure where it would take me, but I knew I had a deep interest in knowing more. At first it was about the universe, but I studied other things, too. My brother was into electronics, so I got into that for a while. Our interests tracked each other for a while, then he started getting into airplanes and I started thinking about biology and bones.

There was one other thing that might have got me thinking about science. My mother sat me and my brother down and read to us every night. Two of our favorite books were about Danny Dunn, a teenage science kid. One book was about anti-gravity paint. I don’t remember what the other was, but I do know that I have them both in my home library now. About ten years ago, I re-read them. What fun stories! Science was fun! I wanted to do that.

"Mammoth Backdrop" is me collecting a sediment sample at The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota, in June of 2011.

Question 8: I remember meeting my first professional paleontologist. Do you remember the first paleontologist you ever met? Were you a nervous wreck? 

The first time I ever communicated with a paleontologist was in high school when I sent out letters to a few paleontology groups (one of which was the Paleontological Society) asking what I had to do to become a paleontologist and what did they think of the schools I was applying to. I got helpful letters back. I hadn't realized it at the time, but at least one of them was from a high muckity-muck in the Paleontological Society (whose name now completely escapes me. It might have been Don Wolberg). Years later I learned who he was and had that ‘oh crap!’ moment.

In the summer before my last year as an undergraduate, I met my first ‘real’ paleontologist. His name is Brent Breithaupt, and was at the time in charge of the Geological Museum at the University of Wyoming. He told me about the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP). He probably told me a lot of other things, too, but I was pretty overwhelmed with information. I chuckle now, because I later went to the University of Wyoming to get my Ph.D. and am now good friends with Brent. He’s been Chair of SVP’s Auction Committee since it was founded, and I’ve been helping with the auction every year I go to the SVP annual meeting since 1995. I became an Auction Committee member in 2000 or 2001.

My first real experience in rubbing shoulders with other paleontologists came in 1994, when, somehow, I got to go to my first-ever meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Seattle. I had never been to a professional conference before. I was star-struck and completely lost. The only person I knew was Brent. I talked to him for about two minutes. The rest of the time I wandered in a fog. The science was completely over my head and I was surrounded by the biggest big names in paleontology. It’s funny to look back at that, because now, I’m someone people seek out at SVP meetings. It’s a big change.

Question 9: Dinosaurs and the animals that lived at the same time as them were amazing creatures. Why do you feel they continue to fascinate us? 

I think people just have a deep interest in monsters. Dinosaurs are particularly interesting because they’re monsters that really existed! Yet they are still so foreign and bizarre that they seem to be the product of science fiction. People are drawn to them because many were so big and powerful and mysterious. 

I have to wonder if the new image of dinosaurs - fluffy, fuzzy, and feathered — will change people’s opinions. I wonder if the draw will still be there when dinosaurs look more like over-sized, toothy, flightless chickens? Maybe not. They’re still giant and foreign, but real!

"Me High Arctic 2012" was taken on Axel Heiberg Island in the summer of 2012.

Question 10: What is your favorite time period? 

I’m a big fan of the Cenozoic, mostly because I enjoy most working with mammals. For isotopic work, mammals are a fairly well-understood system. Complex, to be sure, but we at least have modern mammals to make comparisons with. The Cenozoic, of course, is a really long time. Maybe I should be more specific about what part of the Cenozoic I prefer. My doctoral work focused on the Paleocene, around 60 million years ago. The PETM happened about 55 million years ago. After that, mammals get big enough to do some serious isotopic work. Until most recently, almost every mammal I worked with was 25 million years old or younger. Aside from dabbling a bit into the first few thousand years of the Eocene, I have completely given the Eocene and the Oligocene a miss. That’s going to change, as I’m embarking on a project that will have me working on middle-Eocene mammals. That’s exciting. I wonder, though, when I’ll ever work with Oligocene mammals. 

Thank you Penny Higgins!