I am a nerd who turned a lifetime fascination in nature documentaries and monster movies into a career as an Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach, where I get to study the amazing ways that animals move through different environments and then share these discoveries to students through my role as a teacher-scholar.
How did I become a scientist?
To explain how vertebrate animals became terrestrial, I have to study the evolutionary changes that spanned the transition from fishes to tetrapods which is recorded through the anatomical changes that are left behind in fossils, such as these specimens from the Field Museum.
My career started off a bit rocky when I was rejected from the four-year university programs I applied to in high school. I wanted to become a wildlife biologist to maintain biodiversity and this roadblock made me question whether I was good enough to pursue what I loved. The thought of being a university professor hadn’t crossed my mind yet but I knew that I needed a college degree, so I attended community college where my chemistry professor explained how research helps solve mysteries. I loved puzzles, so I thought “why not?”. I transferred to the University of California, Davis, and was lucky to work with excellent professors who helped me conduct research and inspired me to study how the environment affects animal movements. I did temporarily work as a wildlife biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service during this time, but research made me realize that I could study the maintenance of biodiversity through the lens of evolution and ecology. With my mentors’ support, I completed a Ph.D. at Clemson University and earned post-doctoral fellowships at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis and the Royal Veterinary College. In 2017, I started a tenure-track position at California State University, Long Beach.
What do I study?
One of the aims of my research is to compare how fins and limbs allow animals to move on land and two key players in this story are the African mudskipper (Periophthalmus barbarus; left) and tiger salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum), respectively.
My research combines biology, engineering, and mathematics to reconstruct animal movement by piecing together how muscles and bones produce motion. I deconstruct how living animals move so I can build computer models that reverse-engineer the ancient movements of extinct animals. One of my goals is to figure out how vertebrates (animals with backbones) went from living in water for hundreds of millions of years as fishes to moving onto land as tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates). I enjoy studying animals that challenge the norm, such as ‘walking’ fishes, because they open our eyes to the amazing diversity on Earth and help us learn from those who are different from us. Here’s to nature’s misfits!
What would I have told younger me?
I would encourage anyone interested in science to explore diverse experiences and treat every challenge as an opportunity to learn something, whether it be about yourself or the world around you. We often treat obstacles in our lives as affirmation that we are not good enough, but it is not the obstacles that define us but the way in which we respond to those obstacles. These struggles can push us to grow stronger or approach questions with new and creative perspectives. There are many equally important ways to be a scientist and there is no single pathway to becoming a scientist, so enjoy your adventure!
Follow Sandy’s lab updates on her website and Twitter account!
Type locality of the 460-440 million-year-old megacrystic Esperanza granitoids, Acatlán Complex, southern Mexico.
I am a field-based structural geologist and I have been in love with geology for as long as I can remember. If you like a good “whodunit” then geology is an endless delight. All science is about inquiry and analysis, but geology is more than this – it involves the imagination. Like a good detective novel, geology provides incomplete evidence that must be pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle with pieces missing to come up with a story or, in my case, a picture of the past.
My interests lie in plate tectonics and the supercontinent cycle, and the influence of these global processes on crustal evolution, mantle circulation, climate, sea level and the biosphere. To tackle such a wide field requires a broad geological background. I am interested in any evidence in the rock record pertaining to the Earth’s changing geography with time. So I collect data on structural kinematics, magmatic environments, depositional settings and provenance, and metamorphic history. I also date rocks and analyze their chemistry and isotopic signatures. I even collect fossils! In this way I try to interpret the geologic history of broad regions so that I can reconstruct past continental configurations and thereby evaluate the causes and effects of Earth’s moving continents and the long-term geologic, climatic and biological consequences of their episodic assembly into supercontinents.
Paleogeographic map of the Rheic Ocean, which separated the southern continents (Gondwana) from the northern continents (Laurentia and Baltica) for much of the Paleozoic Era. The map attempts to reposition the continents in Early Silurian time, about 440 million years ago.
This “big picture” approach to geology suits me well because there is really no aspect of the science that doesn’t fascinate me. For me, geology has not just provided a fantastic career, it has been a lifelong passion. When I joined the Humphrey Davy grammar school in the UK at the age of 12, I came under the spell of a truly exceptional teacher by the name of Bob Quixley. Mr. Quixley taught geography, but his real delight was geology and his enthusiasm for the subject, and the blackboard artwork he crafted to convey it, were addictive. For a period of five years, he had us captivated and, in testament to his influence, no fewer than five of my classmates and I went on to university and careers in geology.
It was a decision I have never questioned. Geology embraces everything that makes a career rewarding. It is important, it matters to both science and society, it is varied and interesting, it takes place in the field and the classroom as well as the office, it pays well and, most of all, it is a lot of fun!
A dangerous game. Checking my undergraduate field mapping 35 years later on a UN-sponsored international field trip to Cornwall and the Lizard ophiolite (a piece of ocean floor linked to the Rheic Ocean) in SW England.
What, you might ask, have supercontinents to do with anything that society cares about? Well, what we don’t grow, we mine, and plate tectonics and the supercontinent cycle play a vital role in the search for mineral deposits and energy resources. They also help us understand the natural environment, the distribution of our water resources and the origin of geologic hazards. They additionally influence Earth’s climate and so help us to determine what happens when climate changes, and whether the climate change we are witnessing today is of human origin or a natural phenomena. And this just touches the surface.
So if you are studying geology or think about doing so, I strongly encourage you to continue. I have never met a geologist who didn’t love what they were doing, and to be paid to do what you love is worth a fortune!
What is your favorite part about being a scientist?
My job is to do interesting things. If I’m working on boring things, I’m not doing my job right! Plus, I really enjoy the teaching and mentoring ends – working with younger scientists (from middle school students up through Ph.D. students) is really a joy for me.
What do you do?
I figure out how stuff rots in the ocean. Microorganisms are naturally present everywhere on Earth, and most of them eat food and “breathe out” carbon dioxide, just like us. I try to figure out what kinds of food microorganisms in the ocean (and in lakes and streams) like to eat, and how they digest it.
How does your science contribute to the understanding of climate change or to the betterment of society in general?
Microorganisms have to “breathe in” some chemical to help them turn their food into energy. Some microorganisms breathe in oxygen like we do, while others breathe in some pretty weird chemicals like iron or even uranium. The balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and other chemicals on Earth’s surface has a big effect on what life on Earth is like. We’re currently worried about too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, for instance – but if there were zero carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, Earth’s oceans would freeze solid! Three quarters of the Earth’s surface is covered by oceans, so the activities of ocean microorganisms have a big effect on Earth’s environment as a whole.
What are your data and how do you obtain your data?
I like to combine data about the chemical composition of organic matter in the ocean (i.e., leftover phytoplankton and plant matter, aka the stuff that is rotting) with measurements of the activities of the microorganisms that cause the rotting. There have been tremendous advances in DNA sequencing technologies in the past few years, so even though my background is in chemistry I am beginning to understand what kinds of reactions microorganisms are capable of carrying out.
What advice would you give to young aspiring scientists?
Ask questions, and then read to learn the answers! For younger scientists, there is a journal called “Frontiers for Young Minds”. Just like any other respectable journal, the articles here are written by scientists and then peer-reviewed by other scientists. For more advanced folks, there are quite a few high-quality open-access (i.e., free) journals. Good ones include PLoS One, PeerJ, the Frontiers family of journals, Science Advances, and Nature Communications. These are the real deal – scientists writing for other scientists. You can use Google Scholar to find papers. Find a subject you’re interested in, and read everything you can about it! You won’t understand everything right away, but that’s OK – I find stuff in papers that I don’t understand all the time. The only way around that is to keep reading. This is learning science the hard way, but if you can spend some time reading and thinking about other people’s papers, you’re well on your way to becoming an expert.
I am one of the rare people (not so rare in paleontology) that has always known what I wanted to do in life. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. When I got a bit older this expanded to paleontology in general as I was spending my summers in Northern Michigan collecting fossil corals (Petoskey Stones) along the shore of Lake Michigan and reading every book I could about fossils.
When I got to high school, I started to think about paleontology as a career and called the nearest Natural History Museum (University of Michigan) asking to talk to someone. I ended up speaking with Tom Baumiller who was very generous with his time and chatted with me on the phone, invited me to the museum, and got me working as a volunteer with the museum collections. I came to the University a year later and Tom had research projects waiting. I ended up conducting research for four years at the museum working with Tom on predation in the fossil record and Dan Fisher on stable isotopes in mastodons. This provided insight into the process of science as well as strong mentorship. I spent countless hours in Tom’s lab along with his graduate students (Forest Gahn, Asa Kaplan, and Mark Nabong), which helped to formulate my own interests and provided casual advice regarding graduate school and academia.
What, exactly, do you do?
The aspect of paleontology that really piques my interest is thinking about the weirdness of fossil organisms. Seeing the remains of animals in the past that look nothing like animals today, inspires wonder of these ancient environments and also provides a clear mystery to be solved. This is what originally interested me in dinosaurs, but as I delved deeper into paleontology it was clear that things got stranger when I looked further into the past.
Visualization of the distribution of echinoderm body forms based on their characteristics. Modified from Deline 2015 with images from Sumrall and Deline 2009 and Sumrall et al. 1997.
As far as weird goes, nothing beats echinoderms (relatives of sea urchins and sea stars). As you may know from previous Time Scavenger posts by the stellar young scientists that contribute to this blog (Maggie, Jen, and Sarah), early echinoderms are extraordinarily diverse and have many perplexing features. To explore this, I examine the diversity of features and forms (disparity). This method allows the visualization of evolutionary dynamics from the perspective of how different rather than how many. For my dissertation, I examined crinoid disparity during the Early Paleozoic focusing on a few key questions. What controls the diversity of features in a community of animals? What is the role of weird things in disparity patterns through time? And, are rare animals objectively weird? I compiled a large database of crinoid characteristics largely by studying museum collections and was able to address these questions. It turned out that rare animals weren’t all that objectively weird compared to common things. However, weird animals (outliers based on their characteristics) played a large role in understanding the evolution in form through time, especially during shifts in environmental conditions.
I have since expanded my research to examine trends in disparity in all echinoderms. This is a gargantuan project in that it requires some working knowledge of the many different groups of echinoderms. It has been one of the most rewarding tasks scientifically as it has given me the chance to sit down with many different echinodermologists and discuss the group they know best. From these discussions, I have compiled a huge character list that I along with my research students have used to examine trends in body plan evolution within echinoderms. This is still ongoing research, but I can start asking questions regarding the nature of the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. We can explore patterns of disparity at the level of a phylum and how that parses out to the different groups within it. And, we can start to examine how different forms evolved and what limits the range of feature seen in echinoderms.
How does your job contribute to the understanding of evolution or climate change?
I work at the University of West Georgia, which is a regional comprehensive University. This means that a large portion of my time is devoted toward teaching our diverse student body. I teach a steady mix upper level geology courses and non-major introductory classes. I spend significant amounts of time in my upper level courses discussing evolutionary processes and the nature of science. I feel paleontology is a perfect place to discuss biases, uncertainty, and how scientists actually try to understand the world around them.
This is even more important in my introductory classes. I have a very casual lecture style that fosters student confidence to ask questions. I focus on discussing geologic time, evolution, and climate change. In addition, we talk about why these issues are important and explore the political implications. Politics are a tricky area in the current climate, but if I can get students to include a candidate’s scientific literacy into their decision making process when they are voting, I have done my job.
What methods do you use to engage your students?
Discussing the Mississippian rocks surrounding Lake Cumberland, Kentucky.
I find in my classes getting students out of the classroom and into the field is the most effective way to communicate. Students can make direct observations and see that the real world is much more complicated than what they see in the classroom. Field experiences foster bonds between the student and instructors that makes students more comfortable asking questions. In addition, field work creates more cohesive student groups that then are more likely to work together and elevate the entire class while they are back on campus.
What advice would you give to young aspiring scientists?
I think my advice varies depending on who I am addressing so I will list a few things:
Amateur Paleontologists
Take advantage of local fossil groups, they are a wealth of knowledge and experience! If you discover something that you don’t recognize when you are collecting fossil, they can help. Also, feel free to contact professional paleontologists regarding your questions. I have research projects collaborating with or using specimens collected by avocational paleontologists. Also, remember that professional paleontologists have tons of responsibilities such that it may take a while to reply, we can’t go out into the field as often as we would like, and publications based on your material may take a fair amount of time.
Aspiring Paleontologists
Learn as much as possible: read books and articles, go to meetings of local fossil groups (if there are any nearby), and visit museums. Contact professionals with your questions, but be respectful of their time (if you email during exam week that email might get lost!). Most paleontologists would be thrilled to meet an enthusiastic aspiring paleontologist, especially because we were also in that position.
Graduate Students
Publish your work, publish side projects, establish collaborations and publish them. Obviously, make sure the publications are high-quality science, but put yourself in the best position possible. Also, try to squash down the feelings of competition. I know students are all competing for the same grants and ultimately the same jobs. However, if you collaborate or help other students in your department or subfield, that elevates everyone. If one of your friends gets a grant, awesome. They will do more research and make your department/subfield look better. If they get a job that means you will have someone to collaborate with when you get a job! Being supportive and collaborative will make graduate school better. These friendships can also lead to exciting opportunities for you in the future. For instance, I am currently planning a joint trip with one of my graduate school buddies (Kate Bulinski) and recently received a box of Cambrian echinoderm plates form another (Jay Zambito).
Students on the Job Market
Apply to everything. I was aiming for a research position, but ended up at a teaching-focused school. I didn’t think it would make me happy, but I love it here. Don’t limit your options when you may not know what you really want. Also, take time to do the things that clear your head- meditate, jog, hike, etc. Make sure your application is the best possible and then the rest is out of your hands. Likely some of the things that a search committee is looking for are outside of your control so you might as well go for a walk with your dog.
Young Professionals
The first few years on the job are really exhausting, but a few things will make it easier. Maintain your contacts and collaborations. Pick projects that won’t be quite as time intensive. Establish mentors in your department and in your field that can give advice when you need it (thanks Bill Ausich and Tim Chowns). Avoid getting bogged down in things that are not considered in your job performance (mentors will help here). Finally, keep doing the things that clear your head. If you are busy these are often the first things that get left behind, but they are important so keep doing them.
Sumrall, C.D. and Deline, B. 2009. A new species of the dual-mouthed paracrinoid Bistomiacystis and a redescription of the edrioasteroid Edrioaster priscus from the Upper Ordovician Curdsville Member of the Lexington Limestone. Journal of Paleontology, v. 83, no. 1, p. 135-139, doi: 10.1666/08-075R.1
I am a paleoichthyologist, meaning that I am a paleontologist who specializes in fishes. In particular, my research is focused on the evolutionary history of early ray-finned fishes from freshwater deposits in North America; many of the fishes from these Triassic and Early Jurassic deposits remain undescribed and poorly understood with regard to their relationships to other fishes, as well as the roles they play in their respective environments. This time period is interesting to me because fish at this time were much different than what we see today. Much fish biodiversity had gone extinct at the end-Permian extinction event, and so lineages that persisted into the Mesozoic evolved into new habitats and niches. I focus on changes and trends in the morphology among several different groups of ray-finned fishes, and how these fishes evolved to exploit novel ecological niches at a turbulent time in Earth’s history.
I also serve as an editor for the PLOS Paleontology Community blog! While not directly related to my research, science communication is an avenue of my work as a scientist that allows me to branch out into other topics within the community and highlight new, exciting research that is available to everyone through Open Access! I enjoy getting to talk to other paleontologists about their research and projects, as well as help paleontologists and paleo enthusiasts access new information, resources, and useful tools.
This fish is Hemicalypterus weiri, a deep-bodied fish with unusual scraping teeth that may have been used to scrape algae or other attached organisms from a rocky substrate. Hemicalypterus is found in the Upper Triassic Chinle Formation of Utah, and is possibly the oldest representative of herbivory in fishes.
My research revolves directly around examination of anatomy and morphology of fishes from the orders Semionotiformes, Redfieldiiformes, Dapediiformes, and other closely-related ray-finned fishes. I collect most of my data through a microscope, examining specimens from museum collections or specimens that were collected in the field and prepared by great volunteers from the Utah Friends of Paleontology. I take high-resolution photographs of specimens so that I can examine and measure the morphological features of the fossils, and I also collect data from drawing specimens using a camera lucida. If you are unfamiliar with a camera lucida, it is a drawing tube microscope attachment that makes it possible to see a blank paper and my hand juxtaposed upon the specimen visible through the microscope oculars. I then trace the specimen I am seeing in the microscope onto the paper, which is actually placed next to the specimen though it looks like I am drawing directly on the specimen. The result is a drawing interpretation of the anatomy. This technique is old, but I still use it because it really forces me to closely examine and interpret what I am seeing. As my PhD advisor would say, “What you do not draw, you do not see.”
The data I collect may be written into a formal, detailed anatomical description, if the specimens represent a new species. That description can be used by other paleontologists to evaluate and compare to their own specimens. It also gets coded into a matrix of morphological characters, which includes other species that may or may not be closely related. I then analyze the completed matrix of morphological characters using phylogenetic software. The output is a hypothesis of evolutionary relationships of the group of fishes I am focusing on for the project, which I can then use to address evolutionary questions, such as the number of times a specific anatomical or morphological feature may have independently evolved, or assessing a role these fishes may have played in their respective ecosystems.
My research is part of a larger collaborative effort to assess the biodiversity of the Early Mesozoic of North America at a time in Earth’s history that saw major changes to the planet’s geography, several mass extinctions, and faunal turnover events that lead to the opening of novel ecological niches for both aquatic and terrestrial organisms. By looking at how species respond to catastrophic events, we may be more able to understand how modern biodiversity may evolve and adapt to modern changes that are being accelerated by human impacts.
My favorite part about being a scientist is realizing how vast and amazing this world and its history are! There is just so much to learn and see, and really, even with how far we have come as a society, there is still so much we don’t know! I love nerding out with fellow paleontologists, because frankly, how could you not love doing something this fun? It’s exciting! I also love discovering a new species, or uncovering a new specimen when doing fossil preparation. Just knowing that I am the first human to lay eyes on this little fish that died over 200 million years ago is very humbling.
My advice to young scientists would be to not get discouraged when you fail. I say when, not if, because failure is inevitable. Everyone fails, absolutely everyone. Every scientist you know has had grants rejected, papers revised, ideas spurned, etc. We all start somewhere! The key is persistence! Take the criticisms you will receive (and again, you will receive criticism at some point or another, so don’t despair!), and just use it to make your work better and more solid. Don’t forget that you are doing something totally awesome and worthwhile.
On a more practical note, practice reading and writing scientific papers. The scientific jargon can be a huge barrier to students and young scientists, but is so important when it comes time to share your own work with others. So read, read, read! Learn how to interpret their results. There is no excuse to not have access to scientific papers because Open Access research is ever-growing. Check out the weekly Fossil Friday Roundup (shameless plug!) which highlights new Open Access paleontology-related papers!
Follow Sarah’s blog here, for more information and updates on her research and check out the PLOS Paleo Community here, for awesome open access paleontology.
What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science?
The best part of my job is my interactions with students. I feel very fortunate to have a group of masters and doctoral students working in the lab on various projects that focus of climate change, evolution and improving the geological time scale. Many of the students are international and have different research backgrounds, and thus I get to learn about different cultures as well as benefit from unique insights that they have to science. I also really enjoy how every day is different, and I get to look down the microscope at extraordinary fossil plankton from millions of years ago.
Science wasn’t my first choice – I originally applied to university to study English Literature, but my grades weren’t good enough! So this was a big turning point, but in retrospect I’m really glad that I couldn’t take that path. These days I spend much of my time reading and writing, so perhaps these worlds are not so far apart.
How does your research contribute to the understanding of evolution and climate change?
I use microscopic marine plankton and their chemistry to determine how the oceans have changed over the last 50 million years. I’m particularly interested in how life responds to climatic change and what drives a species to extinction.
What are your proxies, and how do you obtain your data?
Scanning electron microscope images of planktonic foraminifera from the about 14 million years ago (middle Miocene). Image from Fox and Wade (2013).
The microscopic fossils I work on are called planktonic foraminifera. These are about the size of a grain of sand. Their shells are made of calcium carbonate and over time the shells of dead foraminifera accumulate in marine sediments and yield a long fossil record, which we can use to gain information on oceans and climate of the past. I use cores obtained through the International Ocean Discovery Program. Core samples taken from the ocean floor can help form a picture of climate changes which took place millions of years ago. I use the foraminifera to examine changes in evolution and extinction rates and mechanisms in different time intervals, and use their chemistry, such as oxygen and carbon isotopes to reconstruct changes in marine temperatures, track glacial/interglacial cycles, and productivity through time.
What advice do you have for young, aspiring scientists?
Find your passion, focus on the aspects that you enjoy the most and have fun!
Sarah exploring the Devonian Spanish echinoderms on a beautiful beach.
As an invertebrate paleobiologist, I work on group of extinct echinoderms (the group including sea lilies and sea stars): the diploporitans. These fossils, which admittedly look like weird potatoes, are not well understood. Their evolutionary relationships to other echinoderms, biogeography, or even why the diploporitans went extinct are big questions that don’t have answers. This is important because the diploporitans lived at a time of very dramatic climate change, the Ordovician. During this time, the diploporitans changed their body plans a lot, likely in response to this climate change. If we are able to learn more about how this group of echinoderms responded, we might be able to better understand how modern organisms will also respond to rising ocean levels, warmer waters, and higher acidification. To learn more about this puzzling group, I have done fieldwork in rural Spain, the western coast of Sardinia, and southern Indiana to uncover new diploporitan fossils. I have also traveled to museums in the Czech Republic, Estonia, and all over the U.S. to restudy diploporitan collections. I study the fossils I find in the field or that I see in museums for morphological differences between the specimens; these differences are used in analyses so that I can understand the evolutionary tree of diploporitan echinoderms.
Eumorphocystis multiporata (SUI 97597), an Ordovician-age diploporitan that shows unusual features. This fossil has features that are similar to early crinoid fossils, which might help us understand early echinoderm evolutionary relationships.
My favorite part of being a scientist is getting to learn something new every single day. I work with scientists across the world that specialize in all kinds of different scientific fields-I get to learn something every time I talk to them. My second favorite part of being a scientist is getting to do something new all the time-my work takes me to places I’d never have imagined getting to visit, meet new people from all over the world, and research new questions. My job is so much fun-I couldn’t imagine doing something different!
My advice to young scientists is to find what you are really, really passionate about. This isn’t easy at all! I tried a lot of things before I discovered that I loved invertebrate paleobiology, and that’s ok! Try new things, learn stuff along the way, and discover what it is that makes you absolutely love going to work each day. We need your passion about whatever branch of science you choose if we want to keep making scientific progress. And never give up-science can be very frustrating some times, if your experiment doesn’t give you the result it wants, or your classes are tougher than you expected. By trying your hardest, I promise you’re more than halfway there!
Read more about Sarah’s work on her website here or on her Twitter here.
Studying Jurassic fossils in the Negev Desert of southern Israel.I love paleontology. I’ve been active in many aspects of the science, from describing new fossil species to analyzing ancient parasites, but the topic I enjoy the most is the ecology and evolution of marine communities that lived on hard surfaces like rocks and shells. When you pick up a shell on the beach, chances are there are numerous tiny organisms that have encrusted its surface or bored holes into it. These hard substrate dwellers, called sclerobionts, represent a community type that dates back more than half a billion years. They are easy to find in the fossil record, so they can be studied to address deep questions about how communities evolve over long intervals. With this research I have traveled the world with my students examining fossil sclerobiont communities throughout the fossil record. Another advantage of the project is that I’ve gotten to know well a diverse set of fossil groups, especially echinoderms, bryozoans, and the dozens of animal types that drill holes in rocks and shells.
An Upper Ordovician cobble with encrusting crinoids (the three volcano-like fossils) and bryozoans (branching, net-like fossils). This is a small sclerobiont community about 450 million years old.
My type of paleontology, called evolutionary paleoecology, makes important contributions to understanding our dynamic world today. Long-term studies from the fossil record show how ecosystems respond to environmental perturbations, enabling us to predict the ecological patterns that will result from contemporary climate change. This work also gives us a rich ecological context for the epic story of life’s evolution.
Science was my destiny from childhood because I was fascinated with nature and the questions we can ask about it. Sharing these ideas with others in a community of inquiry is a great joy, so I became a college professor. Watching generations of students grow intellectually while addressing questions about the history of Life has been immensely satisfying. I have been very fortunate to have a career in which doing science has been inextricable from teaching science.
My advice to a young scientist is to think of the world around you in a series of questions, and then make sure your education is rich and diverse so you learn what questions are most interesting and useful. The successful scientists I know are always asking how things work like they do, and then they test for themselves answers that don’t seem to fit the evidence they see. Paleontology is ideal for this kind of science because we have the long and diverse record of nature over billions of years. Endless intriguing questions!
To learn more about Mark and his research visit his website here or his Twitter here.
I study how ancient forests responded to environmental changes. By looking at what has happened in the past (“time traveling with a shovel,” as Kirk Johnson so brilliantly calls it), we can better predict and prepare for what we might be facing in the coming decades. For example, most of my research considers plant fossils from the western US that are 60-50 million years old. During this time, earth was much, much warmer than today: there was no ice at the poles and crocodiles and palm trees lived all the way up in the Arctic Circle. I am interested in how forests work during warm intervals like this, as well as how different forests were across North America. Today, there are huge differences between forests in Wyoming and New Mexico, due predominantly to the very different temperatures. But what about during the Eocene, when Earth was universally warm?
Representative leaf damage on modern and fossil leaves. Galls (a,b), leaf mines (c,d,e), leaf chewing damage (f, g; H=holes, M=margin feeding, S=skeletonization), oviposition (h, i). Scale bar= 1 cm in A-D, F-I. Tick marks in E=1 mm.
Around 56 million years ago, there was an abrupt global warming event caused by massive release of carbon (as CO2 or methane- the jury is still out on this) into the atmosphere. Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at least doubled, global temperatures warmed between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius, and ocean acidity increased. This event had a huge impact on living things, and I have studied how plants and insects responded to that increased temperature and carbon dioxide levels. While studying this interval is not a perfect analog for the present (rates of change are probably 100 times slower 56 million years ago than today), it is the best offered by the geologic record.
My favorite parts of being a scientist are exploring, discovering new things, and exercising my imagination. I have traveled to beautiful and rugged places all over the world to collect fossils. I get a rush of excitement every time I split open a rock and discover a beautiful leaf that has not seen the light of day for many millions of years. As I am collecting fossils, I take pauses to close my eyes and envision what that landscape looked like when the fossil were alive, transforming the barren badlands in which I sit into lush tropical forests.
My advice to young scientists is to be yourself and to never let anyone convince you that science isn’t cool. Everyone needs science, and science needs everyone. We are all citizen scientists. We can all be professional scientists, regardless of race, skin color, religion, gender, or sexuality.
Ellen Currano is a professor at the University of Wyoming see her website here, and is a co-creator of The Bearded Lady Project.
I am a paleontologist who studies how and why species are distributed across the Earth’s surface (= biogeography), how new species arise (=speciation), and how the movement of species between places changes local communities and global diversity patterns. I typically focus my research on shallow marine ecosystems because these ecosystems have the most complete fossil record, and I use brachiopods as my focal taxon because these marine fossils are well-preserved and abundant in Paleozoic strata. Because my research focuses on a common group of fossils, I am able to use them to examine detailed temporal and spatial patterns. My data comes from both field collections (I’ve collected specimens on all seven continents) and museum collections.
With Middle Ordovician brachiopods along the Baltic Klint, Estonia
In particular, I am very interested in working to better understand the long-term impacts of invasive species. In the modern world, invasive species cause tremendous damage to how ecosystems function, and these impacts cost billions of dollars per year in the US alone. Modern ecologists have conducted fantastic studies on the short-term (years to decades) impacts of species invasions, but we need to look deeper in time to the fossil record to quantifying the long-term (thousands to tens of thousands of years) impact of invasive species. Fortunately, the fossil record is replete with examples of species that evolved in one area but later invaded a previously isolated geographic region, which is what I study. By better characterizing the long-term impacts of invasive species, we can better understand and predict what impacts pervasive introduction of species will have on modern ecosystems over the next century. For example, my research has demonstrated that species invasions will suppress speciation, promote extinction of ecologically specialized species, and have limited or no impact on ecologically generalized species. This provides context and information to develop improved conservation strategies.
Dispersal migration pathways among isolated depositional basins in North America during the Ordovician. From Stigall (in review), Lethaia
My favorite part of being a scientist is coming up with creative new ways to tackle interesting questions about Earth’s history. In particular, I love working with my students and colleagues to develop new datasets and apply innovative techniques that allow us to gain new insights—and new questions!—about how life and Earth co-evolved. I also love traveling to new places around the world to learn about new rocks and meet new colleagues. I also really enjoy teaching and working with the public to spread a greater understanding of science and appreciation for Earth’s history.
Beginning a career in science can feel arduous at times, there is so much to learn–which is exciting but can feel overwhelming–and the path through graduate school can be long. The most important piece of advice is to find a question that you are passionate about. Ask hypotheses that you personally really want to know the answer to. All aspects of scientific research involve some slow and, honestly, a bit boring phases, but that burning, intellectual curiosity to know the answer to YOUR question will carry you through those times into truly exciting phases when everything comes together—and you find your next burning question. Science is a group endeavor, but it is fueled by passionate individuals. Find what you are passionate about and do it!
To learn more about Alycia’s work visit her website or follow her on Twitter!
