Grad Student

Erin Potter, Ph.D Student and Lecturer

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Tell us a little bit about yourself. Currently, I reside in the Southern Tier of New York. I love to be outdoors. My hobbies include traveling, hiking, paddling, trail maintenance, climbing, yoga, and aerial hoop. I am a big fan of constantly learning new things and having new experiences. I am a full-time single mother with a feisty 6.5 year old daughter. We are both National Parks enthusiasts.

Background contains light colored rocks and some shrubs. The foreground has a woman squatting down in a baseball hat with a rock hammer. There is a small child participating in the swing of the hammering.
Me squatting down with my daughter as a toddler. We are fossil hunting in a rock field in the Alberta badlands.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I love all sciences but focus my career and academics on the Earth and Atmospheric sciences. I hold a Masters in Geosciences with a concentration in teaching and a Masters in Atmospheric Sciences. Past research has examined winter storms, climatic changes and the influence of moist air, called an atmospheric river, as it interacts with mountain ranges such as the Andes. I have a lot of interest in weather and climate, but also love geology. I hope to learn more about paleontology! My upcoming research will focus on effective communication in geosciences and inclusivity within geoscience education.

I am a non-traditional graduate student as I am also a faculty member in Geography, and older than my program-mates. I have been teaching at the college level for about 8 years and have informal education experience with all ages. I have a great passion for teaching and sparking interest in science related topics. I’ve worked at a company called Science Explorers, providing  after-school science enrichment to elementary schools. I’ve worked as an educator and animal care personnel at a natural history museum, a zoo, and a couple nature centers. Recently diagnosed with ADHD, this explains why I am addicted to having multiple jobs and hobbies. I’m always doing something and don’t know how to relax when there’s so much more to learn! I am currently working on my Ph.D. in order to go further in my career and to contribute more to the Geoscience community.

Background contains rock formations and the foreground contains a woman on the right and a young child on the left sitting atop the Arches National Park entry sign.
Sitting on the sign for Arches National Park, my daughter and I are always exploring. Photo credit to our other travel buddy, my mom.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I think every child is born with natural curiosity and those who continue with that curiosity become scientists. I was always interested in the world around me, always exploring nature. The science of the Earth fascinated me from a young age. I didn’t start honing in on my interest in Meteorology until a tornado outbreak in 1998 occurred near my hometown. It wasn’t very devastating, but I was terrified. After that memorable day, I wanted to learn all that I could. I eventually did my undergraduate work in Meteorology, but the department I was in also had geology. I joined some classes and club activities related to geology. I had an interest in it, but my career took me more towards the atmospheric and climate sciences. I felt I was lacking in my academic understanding of geology, so I obtained my first Masters in Geosciences. I pursued a Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences after that, but ended up with a second Masters. Now I am in a Geological Sciences Ph.D. program to further my knowledge and research interests. My favorite thing about being a scientist is seeing that spark in others when they witness the magic of science. 

Background is bright sky with the foreground containing a large lava formation with a woman sitting underneath it pretending to hold it up.
Just me playing in a lava field in Iceland.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? My past work has contributed to better understanding of weather/climate phenomena and climate change. I hope that my future research will add to the ever changing education of complex concepts, the lack of effective communication in geoscience, and add more inclusive modes of learning and teaching.

Background is a night sky in a parking lot with some vehicles. Foreground has a women holding a weather balloon smiling.
Holding a weather balloon to be launched into the sky. This was a project to take measurements of the atmosphere during winter storms in Albany, NY.
Top down image of a woman showing a handful of children the anatomy of a dried horseshoe crab.
One of my many jobs was to educate the public on nature related topics. Here, I am showing a group of Girl Scouts a horseshoe crab’s underside.

What advice do you have for up and coming scientists? There may be people who tell you that you can’t. I certainly have had people tell me not to bother in science because I’m “a woman” or “the field is too competitive”. I didn’t listen to those voices and proved to them that I can do whatever I set my mind to. Another piece of advice is to accept that paths change, but it’ll all work out if you work hard to accomplish your goals. I didn’t think I’d be 35 and just starting a Ph.D. program, but here I am!

Background is a foggy rocky area with the foreground being a woman in exercise attire smiling.
Solo climbing Mount Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t!

Valor Nikesha Smallwood, PhD Student

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Tell us a little about yourself. Hey. It’s been a while since my last post here. Many things have changed since then. I’m a girl now, that’s a pretty big change. My name is Valor now, and I think that’s a good thing to focus on here. I chose my new first and middle names, Valor and Nikesha respectively, for different reasons. Valor means exactly what it sounds like; courage to do what is right, which is something I’ve wanted to embody since I was young. Nikesha is a name derived from the name of the Greek goddess Nike, but it’s also a name I pulled from one of my favorite songs, America by Sammus, and gave to a character I wrote, which was basically just a passion project to explore where my mind was at the time of writing her. It means victory, and it reflects all the thoughts and personal effects I put into writing that character that are largely my own and informed by my experiences, so it felt only natural that I make that apart of my name. But outside of that, to tell a bit more about myself, I am a nerd who loves to write all kinds of things, from novels to poems, listen to hip-hop music of all kinds, play video games, and watch anime (most recently Bocchi the Rock).


What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I’m a vertebrate paleontologist (a deep and heartfelt apology to all invertebrate paleontologists) studying comparative dire wolf and grey wolf paleoecology using stable isotopes. The samples I work on come from Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, CA. Currently, I’m using carbon isotopes to examine these canids’ dietary habits and how they fluctuated with climate. I will be moving onto nitrogen isotopes in the very near future to expand the image of their diets with more precise trophic data. From there, I will be performing radiocarbon dating and strontium analysis, to see where in space and when in time sampled dire and grey wolves existed. I’ll also be creating a strontium map of the LA basin as part of this. This will be done to gain more holistic insight into the lives of these organisms, and to see if dire wolves, like modern grey wolves, travelled great distances, possibly to track migrating prey animals.

A black woman with purple and blue hair dressed in goth accessories sitting at a table, hands folded in front of her and looking at the camera. She is in front of a pond with some sedges and trees bordering it.
Me, sitting at a table in front of a pond, looking very demure and very mindful.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? My favorite part about being a scientist is the joy of teaching it to other people. Being a teaching assistant, I have taught and will continue to teach undergraduate courses about topics such as introductory biology and geology, and I love watching my students come to understand things more clearly and ask questions that evolve over time to be more and more refined, showing a mastery of the material. It’s also just as nice to be taught things by my students. Details about their interests, forays they’ve made into the working and scientific world, and their insights about politics, diversity, and the world around them. It’s amazing to see, and it makes me feel confident in future generations, which makes it frustrating to see people older than me discrediting and doubting the intelligence and work ethics of younger generations. I got into science from a young age after reading a book about dinosaurs in third grade. I was hooked ever since, which is why I find it so important to foster an interest in science in people of any age and to have patience with people when they stumble over difficult words and concepts.

A black woman with purple and blue hair and goth accessories standing in front of a poster. The poster’s title is “Seasonal Diet Ecology of Rancho La Brea Dire Wolves”, and it discusses her findings about carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes in dire wolves.
Me, posing in front of the poster I presented at GSA Connects, 2024 about my work.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? My scientific work serves modern conservationists and paleontologists studying ancient systems. A strontium map is helpful for people who want to study it in the future, and a comparative study of dire wolves and grey wolves can help people who want to study the past in further detail as well as those who study grey wolves today, which are under threat by human land encroachment and changing ecosystem dynamics. But I also do work on improving diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sciences and the world around me. From large, concerted efforts like protests, to smaller, personal things like mentoring diverse undergraduates and helping them get research experience alongside someone who resembles them and can help them navigate certain issues, I do my best to make sure people looking to enter the scientific community can do so freely, without fear of discrimination or judgment. 

What advice do you have for up-and-coming scientists? Don’t let anybody tell you that you aren’t good enough, or that you cannot do what you want to do for any reason. If you feel that you can do something and that you want to do it, that’s all that matters. Do what you can to make that happen. Sometimes, detractors will try to make you feel inferior; like you lack the skillset necessary to become what you want to be or like you would be happier elsewhere. The person acting most commonly and most strongly in your best interest is yourself, so you should be the final authority on any decision you decide to make. And many times, people who tell you these negative things simply doubt you, and this can be for many reasons. But there is great satisfaction in proving naysayers wrong.

Ohav Harris, Master’s Paleontology Student

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Tell us a little about yourself. I’ve made a Meet the Scientist post before, but that was a while ago and I think a reintroduction would serve to better reflect the person and scientist I’ve become since then. That being said, hello! My name is Ohav Harris, and I’m currently a master’s student at the University of South Florida. I still very much enjoy reading manga (One Piece, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Bleach are some of my favorites), and I’ve gotten (back) into some fitness-related hobbies like playing volleyball and weight training. Recently, I’ve also gotten back into creative writing (short stories, poetry, etc.) and fishing (of all things). I’d like to pick up art as a hobby, mostly so I can better appreciate the art I already consume but also because I think romanticism and impressionism are really cool and I would love to, someday, try my hand at those styles.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I’m a paleontologist (paleobiologist if you prefer)! For my research, I study the biogeographic patterns of Paleozoic echinoderms (animals like starfish, sea lilies, and sand dollars) and how things like climate affected them. In other words, I’m interested in how echinoderms diversified over time and space, and what conditions affected that development. I also work on a Jurassic sauropod (long-necked dinosaur) specimen with my friends/colleagues that came out of the Morrison Formation in the Warm Springs Ranch area (Thermopolis, WY – Wyoming Dinosaur Center). This research is mainly focused on trying to figure out what dinosaur our specimen is and describing the condition of the bones themselves.

An office space with Ohav, in a tee shirt and jeans, sitting at a desk with a bookshelf, computer, and divider curtain smiling at the camera.
Me, sitting at my desk trying very hard to look natural.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? My favorite part of being a scientist is stumbling upon new questions and thinking or talking about how those questions can be approached. Nothing beats the moment when everything clicks and a question pops into my mind, and I get to brainstorm (ideally out loud with someone else) about how to answer it. I also love working with other scientists because I enjoy seeing how other people think and approach questions, and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to work with so many intelligent and talented people. I’ve always been interested in science, but I had a long phase of wanting to be a lawyer somewhere in my teenage years. After a galvanizing visit to the American Museum of Natural History when I was 17, I committed myself to paleontology and haven’t looked back since!

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? Because I work on the connection between climate and the diversity of echinoderms, which have groups that are still around today, I think I have the opportunity to show how animals and environments today are affected by changing climates. Some animals, like polar bears and coral, are vulnerable to these changes and I think that understanding exactly how and why they are affected is an important step to reaching a solution.  I also work with the Scientist in Every Florida School (S.E.F.S.) program, a group that connects K­–12 teachers with scientists to provide outreach opportunities. With S.E.F.S., I try my best to encourage young students to engage more with scientific topics and kindle their curiosity toward the natural world. To this end, I try to do outreach when I can because I aspire to nurture as much scientific thought in as many people as possible.

What advice do you have for up-and-coming scientists? Be persistent, be flexible, be curious, and be kind to yourself. Throughout your path to scientific superstardom, you’re going to encounter some hurdles, make mistakes, or run into something that changes your entire game plan (which isn’t always a bad thing) – it’s inevitable. It’s important to push forward and give yourself the room to learn and grow (without being too hard on yourself!). Things won’t always go the way you think they might, so keep an open mind and explore your options. Through it all, keep asking questions! Science is driven by questions, and the answers are always a treat to find. Who knows, maybe you’ll ask the question that leads to the discovery of the next big thing!

Elizabeth Altier, Masters Student

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a woman toasts the camera with a paper cup. She has short blue and blonde hair, tied back, a grey t-shirt, and smile on her face; she sits at a wooded table with grassy salt marsh and blue sky behind her.
Nice to meet you!

Tell us a little bit about yourself. My name is Elizabeth, and I use she/her. I’m currently pursuing a Masters in Geosciences from the University of South Florida. I grew up in upstate New York, near Ithaca, and hold a B.A. in Geology from Oberlin College. My hobbies include arts and crafts of all kinds (most recently, I started glassblowing!), baking, and videogames. I love museums, libraries, and driving long distances for things I could get at home.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I’m a paleontologist! My undergraduate research investigated the systematics of Turritella, a cone-shaped species of sea snail. Turritella is a very common fossil, and thus has been identified and reidentified many times. Our group set out to find which of these identifications were true and represented distinct groups of organisms, and which ones were the same species under separate names (or different species under the same name), not to mention if Turritella in the fossil record could even be identified to a species level. To answer these questions , I measured and described a lot of specimens from types, a distinction used for the first named and described specimen that provide the reference for all the ones of the same species discovered after, and published figures. I’ve also spent a significant amount of time in museums—most recently, I helped curate a collection of oysters from Louisiana belonging to the Paleontological Research Institution. Now, I’m in my first semester of my master’s degree, studying invertebrate paleontology at USF.

woman with blonde and blue hair, white mask, and a blue shirt. She is standing in front of Acrocanthosaurus skull, a large therapod dinosaur with sharp teeth.
Two earthlings, Acrocanthasaurus and me.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? Like many others in this field, I was a kid who loved dinosaurs who grew into an adult who loved fossils. I remember demanding that my kindergarten teacher spell paleontologist for me when we learned about careers. As a college freshman, I took an introductory geology class and was hooked. I was very lucky to be supported by a family to whom science is very important – in fact, inspired by my love of dinosaurs, my mother started working as a museum educator. I spent a few years after graduating from my undergraduate institution, serving with the AmeriCorps program City Year and working in a library, but I’m glad to be back. I love being a scientist! I love being able to think and ask questions and solve puzzles for a living.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? With an accurate understanding of their species, Turritella can be a great index fossil. Index fossils are used to identify and date the rock layers in which they are found, and, to be useful index fossils, they must be common, widespread, and have been around for a relatively short slice of history. If Turritella can be used to provide precise and accurate temporal information of the many, many rock layers they are in, we can use them to understand the history of an area more broadly. For example, finding Turritella of the same species in two distant rock outcrops shows us that they are the same layer and allows us to say with specificity how many millions of years ago that layer was formed. This, ultimately, helps fill in puzzle pieces of our knowledge of the earth. I think just being a scientist in the world helps society, too- being able to show people the complexity of the earth in little moments really matters.

What advice do you have for up and coming scientists? Two things: one, people want to help you. Many scientists remember when they were you, just starting out. Finding a mentor is worth it. Two, there is a place here for everyone. I remember being hesitant about geology because I’m not super outdoorsy and field camps can be inaccessible for me; when I learned could work predominantly in the lab or museums, it changed a lot for me. There are a lot of ways to be a paleontologist that are not the “traditional” way. The usual stuff sort of advice, too. Try new things. There is no time limit on this. Be enthusiastic. Be patient. Be kind. You got this.

two women, both wearing jeans and t shirts, masks, and gardening gloves, pass a cardboard box between them. The one on the left stands in the back of a tractor trailer, the one on the right in the back of a pickup truck.
Sometimes paleontology is moving a hundred boxes of oysters out of the back of a tractor trailer. Photo from Bridget Kelly.

North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC): University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (17-21 June 2024)

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Front cover of the program and abstract volume for the conference event.
Figure 1: The NAPC program schedule for the meeting.

The North American Paleontological Convention (NAPC) has been a cornerstone event in the paleontological community since 1969. Taking place every four to six years at various prestigious institutions across North America, it brings together scientists and researchers from all areas of paleontology. This inclusive format provides an excellent platform for developing new research directions and establishing connections with colleagues that you might not otherwise have met. This year, at the 12th NAPC at the University of Michigan, there were over 700 delegates and presentation abstracts making for a fun-filled week in Ann Arbor!

Prior to attending the convention, I was deeply impressed by the commitment of the Paleontology Society to creating a respectful and inclusive environment. I was able to complete the PS RISE (Paleo Society Respectful and Inclusive Scientific Event) training online and served as a RISE liaison during the meeting. As a PhD student who still finds conferences rather overwhelming and anxiety-inducing, having this support present at the event was immensely comforting to me.

The conference kicked off on Monday morning with a half-day plenary session titled “Paleontology for All,” that completely blew me away. The collection of talks in this session were incredibly thought-provoking, addressing critical issues of colonialism and systemic racism rooted within paleontology, as well as introducing the limits of “global” data, discussions of fossils as the key to understand our ever-changing planet, and the incredible work of paleo-artists. These talks really inspired me, and made me think about ways to reframe aspects of my paleobiology lectures and labs that I teach to undergraduate students here at the University of Victoria.

Auditorium room with half circular seating arrangement with a semi circular stage in the center.
Figure 2: NAPC opened with a half-day plenary session, “Paleontology for All”, held in the Rackham Auditorium. This event was open to the public and live-streamed for remote access.

Throughout the week, I attended numerous sessions covering a wide range of topics, including:

  • A model system for evolution and environmental change: the marine communities of the Neogene western Atlantic
  • Integrated approaches to exploring coupled biotic, landscape and climate dynamics
  • Proxies, sedimentological indicators, and biotic effects of oceanic anoxic events in the geological record
  • Recent advances in computational paleobiology

The talks I attended were exceptional and really broadened the scope of my own research, providing several novel avenues to explore.

I presented my research in the session: “Answering big questions with small fossils: high-resolution biodiversity dynamics in deep time” with a talk titled ‘Investigating the responses of deep-sea sediments to Cenozoic paleoclimate and paleoceanographic events using data synthesis and the eODP project’. In this talk, I explained the preliminary results of the first chapter of my PhD, looking at using large databases of scientific ocean drilling data to address how and why sedimentation patterns have changed across significant climate transitions in the Cenozoic. Despite my talk being rather different compared to other talks in this session, I feel like it was well-received and sparked some intriguing questions. It also allowed me to practice speaking to people who were not necessarily familiar with my methodologies or overarching concepts, which really helped with my science communication skills.

Sunset picture from a beach location on the harbor waters. Cityscape is in the background and a beach in the foreground.
Figure 3: Belle Isle Park, Detroit
Waterway image with trees and a river in the back and middle ground and a bridge in the foreground that the person taking the image is standing on.
Figure 4: The B2B trail in Ann Arbor.

In addition to the amazing science at the conference, I also got the time to run along the B2B trail in Ann Arbor, explore parts of Detroit, and even attend a concert at the Ann Arbor Summer Festival. Overall, attending NAPC was a wonderfully enriching experience. I am so grateful for the opportunity and for Time Scavengers for helping to make this possible. I look forward to participating in future conferences to discuss the results of this PhD chapter further. Thank you, NAPC, for an unforgettable week!

Katie Jamson, Micropaleontologist

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Background is a bright blue cloudless sky with dark trees on the horizon line. The foreground has a person in a kayak with another kayak paddle close to the bottom of the image.
Kayaking in Brentwood Bay, British Columbia.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Originally from the United Kingdom, I made the exciting move to Canada in 2021 to pursue my PhD. Since arriving here, I have become a keen runner both on the road and on the trails (dodging the bears and cougars!). I enjoy any activities outdoors including hiking, kayaking, and have even explored parts of British Columbia by canoe. I have also started truly immersing myself into Canadian culture by regularly watching hockey and I now avidly support the Vancouver Canucks! Living in Victoria on Vancouver Island has deepened my connection with the ocean, fostering a profound appreciation for this stunning place that I am lucky enough to call home. I am fortunate enough to be living on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Lekwungen) peoples whose historical relationships with the land still continue to this day.

Background is blue sky, green tree filled hill side with foreground being dark choppy water with a canoe with two people. The front person is holding their paddle above their head.
Portaging around the Powell River Lake Circuit, British Columbia.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? As a PhD candidate at the University of Victoria, I specialize in utilizing extensive microfossil datasets from the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) to unravel the complex relationships between the world’s oceans and climate over the past 65 million years. I use these datasets to generate maps of how microfossils such as planktic foraminifera, diatoms, and radiolarians have influenced deep ocean sedimentation patterns and how this relationship has changed over time. I do this using well constrained models of the Earth’s tectonic movements through the Cenozoic (~66 million years ago to present day). Additionally, two of my PhD chapters focus on the Miocene (~23-5 million years ago) where I am conducting work in the laboratory. Here, I am processing IODP deep sea drilling cores from different ocean basins to investigate how climate and tectonic shifts during this dynamic period of time have impacted upon ocean sedimentation and plankton ecology. I do this primarily by looking at abundance counts of the different carbonate- and silica-producing organisms present in the samples.

Person in a laboratory setting looking through a microscope.
Looking at an IODP sample under the microscope.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I have always had an interest in both geography and biology growing up, however, my first field trip to Iceland in 2012 was what really inspired me to study for my undergraduate degree at the University of Exeter, England, in physical geography. Here, I specialised in peatland ecosystems and reconstructing past environments over the last ~8000 years, tracking ash cloud movements across Europe. I achieved this by looking at crypto-tephra, which are microscopic fragments of volcanic ash that are incredibly well-preserved in peatland environments across the globe. During this degree, I fell in love with being able to get a snapshot of what the world would have looked like in the past, and I went on to get my Masters in Paleobiology at the University of Bristol. This is where I moved into deep-sea micropaleontology and studying the evolution of planktic organisms over much longer time periods. One of the most rewarding aspects of being a scientist is engaging with my peers and discussing our research together. As the first paleontology student in my department at the University of Victoria, I had a unique perspective of only being able to converse with colleagues about my work who were on the peripheries of my field. As a result, I gained incredible insight and learned so much from others that have allowed me to approach my work in a more holistic way.

Person in a field holding a block thak that is covered in dirt.
This is me during my undergraduate research holding a peat core section on Dartmoor, England.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? Studying the impact of climate upon planktic evolution and sedimentation rates through periods of warming and cooling across our global oceans provides critical insights into how marine ecosystems and environments might respond to future warming scenarios. By studying these historic patterns, we can better anticipate and understand the potential impacts of climate change on our oceans. I have the privilege of sharing these findings and interests, not only at conferences but also through my teaching role. As an instructor for laboratory sections in Paleobiology and Geological Oceanography classes, I teach third year undergraduate students in exploring the profound importance and influence of extinction events, tectonic processes, and oceanographic changes on evolution—from the earliest life forms to those that persist to the present day.

What advice do you have for up and coming scientists? Everyone in academia is intelligent, stand out by being kind 😊

Victoria Pavlovics, Graduate Student and Rock Magnetist

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Victoria’s shipboard role is being a paleomagnetist.

Field work summer of ’22, Central Mongolia. The research team discusses structural geology problems. Victoria joined as a member of the Utah Paleomagnetic Center at the University of Utah.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Describe your hobbies and interests outside of science. I spend a lot of time outdoors; skiing, hiking, rollerblading or skateboarding. I also read lots of fantasy books and enjoy listening to live music. I try to travel as often as I can and immerse myself in different cultures.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I am a graduate student and I identify as a Rock Magnetist. I analyze the magnetic properties of rocks and minerals to learn more about geological processes, environmental conditions, and the history of Earth’s magnetic field. I am passionate about early geoscience education. I spent a year working with a local middle school, bringing hands-on experiments and facilitating field trips revolving around earth science and geology. I volunteer at outreach events as often as I can. 

Field work summer of ’22, Central Mongolia. Another image of the research team discussing geology.
Field work summer of ’22, Central Mongolia. I am using a Brunton to take an oriented hand sample for paleomag (to interpret the magnetic signal of the Earth from deep time).

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I have a very non-linear path. I took a few years off between high school and college, working at a local bar with no thought about higher education. I decided to go back to school and entered college as an anthropology major, took one geology course and fell in love. Our Geoclub held field trips every long weekend, where I was able to spend time camping outside with friends and learning about rocks. It is those moments that made me want to become a geologist. I also have an undergraduate degree in anthropology. I try to use it as often as possible, with my senior thesis being an archeo-magnetic study on Floridan potsherds. I am also currently involved in geoarchaeology research on roman concrete. I am president of Energy Club (an adaption of AAPG) at the University of Utah. With this club, I coordinate monthly seminars with industry professionals with the aim of teaching undergraduate student’s transferable skills (importance of machine learning in geoscience, adobe Illustrator for figure making, etc) and sharing career trajectories (hosting career panels filled with government, industry, and academics). We also hold a yearly department poster session with monetary awards for both graduate and undergraduate students. This coming year, we hope to hold an “earth science art exhibit” where students and professors can show off their artistic side with paintings of field sites, ‘beautiful’ data sets, and even a ‘bake your thesis’ category. 

Field work in the Tetons in Wyoming, we had to get helicoptered in and we camped on the ice!

How did you learn about scientific ocean drilling? I told my advisor I would love to be on a research vessel and he shared with me the call for a paleomagnetist for this expedition.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? Magneto stratigraphy helps us date sediments. Rock magnetism can tell us about the strength and direction of the magnetic field at a certain time and location. It is also used to better understand tectonic processes. 

More field photos from the ice after we helicoptered in. ! I assisted a friend with their work, acting as a geotech as they cored lake sediments for paleoclimate studies.

What advice do you have for prospective scientists? It truly is for anyone! People from all different backgrounds find their way into geoscience.

Have you received a piece of advice from your friends/mentors/advisors that has helped you navigate your career? Don’t be in a rush. Do what makes you excited, doing it fast while stressed out helps no one.

Camping and conducting research on the ice.

 

Emily Cunningham, Igneous Geochemist

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How did you get into science? I’m a first generation student who grew up in rural East Tennessee and unfortunately didn’t have a great science education heading into college. I didn’t know science was something I liked and could be good at until college and graduate school was never on my radar. I found geology through my love of rock climbing, and luckily had a professor offer to let me tag along on some field work, which kickstarted my research career. That same professor later encouraged me to apply to grad school and helped me through the process.

How did you learn about scientific ocean drilling? My advisor sailed on Expedition 396, and I’ve been working on samples from that expedition for the past two years.

What is your role on the ship? I study lavas that come from the Earth’s mantle to see what they can tell us about what the mantle is made of since we can’t directly sample the mantle or go see it.

Do you use proxy data in your research? Using the geochemistry of basalts (the type of lava typically erupted on the ocean floor) to deduce what the mantle is made of is a type of proxy work, but it’s quite tricky. There’s still so much we don’t know! I’ve developed numerical models to help constrain the possible chemical make-up of mantle source rocks based on the composition of lavas erupted at the surface.

Scientist in protective clothing uses tongs to take a small ceramic bowl out of red hot oven.

How does your work contribute to the understanding of our Earth? Continental rifting is a primary tectonic process and major shaper of the Earth, yet it’s still not fully understood. My research tells us about what the Earth’s mantle is doing throughout the rifting process and if/how the mantle conditions control the type of rifts produced.

How are you training the next generation of scientists? My university has a great program called the Undergraduate Mentor Development Program which allows graduate students to be certified mentors for undergraduates interested in doing research. I completed the program my first semester as a Ph.D. student and have been mentoring the same undergraduate student since my second semester. It’s so rewarding to see how excited she gets about science and it’s been great to see her grow as a scientist.

Do you conduct scientific outreach? I spent last semester in a local high school working with geology and biology classes to help bring my science to them, but also to observe and learn from their teachers how to best communicate science to teenagers.

What are your hobbies and interests outside of science? I enjoy reading and outdoor recreation, especially climbing and skiing.

Is there anything else about yourself you would like to share? I do it all for my dog and two cats.

What advice do you have for prospective scientists? Science is for everyone! Scientists are often portrayed in the media as stuffy old dudes that take themselves way too seriously, but we’re just normal people with a lot of curiosity about the world around us.

Fake it until you make it is a big one for me. Imposter syndrome is real, and sometimes it helps just to keep in mind that a lot of people feel like they’re faking it when from the outside they’re obviously crushing it.

Roxanne Armfield, Vertebrate Palaeontologist, Ph.D. Candidate

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Hi folks, I’m Roxanne and I’m currently a PhD candidate over at Yale University in the Earth and Planetary Sciences department. As a vertebrate palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist, I spend a lot of my time wondering “how on earth did snakes get to be so damn weird?” and use tools from various scientific disciplines to answer different aspects of this question.

Individual in the middle of the frame in the foreground holding a lightly colored snake while smiling. Background is a forested looking setting.
Apparently you can’t be a snake palaeontologist without having a fancy photo of you holding your study organism, so here’s me with an adorable python. 

What research are you doing for your PhD?

My PhD research focuses on the question “why are snake skulls the way they are?”

Most modern snakes feed in a very unusual way – they are able to consume prey items significantly larger than the size of their own heads, and do so without chewing or breaking their food up into smaller pieces. If a human were to do this, it would be like swallowing an entire chocolate cake whole instead of cutting it up into slices first. Modern snakes can also control the left side of their face independently to the right side. This enables them to direct their skull bones in way which produces a tooth-laden conveyer belt motion that drags food into their mouths. Pretty useful when you have no hands to help you eat! These behaviours are only possible due to the unique way modern snake skulls are built – but how these novel anatomical features have arisen over evolutionary time is not yet well understood. When in geological history did these key anatomical changes happen? Were some parts of snake anatomy only able to change once other features had evolved, or been lost? Are there compromises to having a flexible skull, such as limiting the type of prey snakes can eat, or how strong their bite force is? 

To answer these questions, I spend a lot of my time examining snake fossils. The snake fossil record is pretty sparse, especially if you are looking for skull material, but through a combination of new fieldwork sites and rummaging around museum collections, we sometimes get lucky! These fossils help us understand what regions of the snake skull have changed over 60(+) million years, when in geological time modern groups of snakes first appeared, and how small changes in anatomy can lead to big differences in an animal’s feeding behaviour.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I grew up in the UK and began my university education there too. When it came to picking a place to conduct PhD research, I was excited about the possibility of working abroad, and being able to explore fieldwork in new landscapes and biomes than I was used to. I love that being a scientist can take you anywhere in the world, and you get to discover new places and cultures, whilst still having geeky conversations with folks from different backgrounds to my own.

As a kid, I was one of those people who was always asking the questions and trying to link together what I knew of the natural world. Learning new things relating to prehistoric life and ancient environments was what brought the most joy.
As a first-generation student, the concept of going to university was pretty alien, and at that stage in my life, I don’t think I’d even met a scientist who wasn’t one of my high school teachers. I deliberately picked an undergraduate degree which would let me continue to explore multiple science disciplines which ‘traditionally’ were not considered to compliment each other: geology, developmental biology, and evolution and behaviour. By then I knew I loved science but did not want to give up asking questions from these different perspectives. I never thought I’d actually become a palaeontologist – it was one of those impossible dream professions, no different from the musings of a 5-year-old who wants to grow up and become a princess, or a steam train. Midway through undergrad one of my guidance tutors reassured me that not only was palaeontology ‘a real job’ but something that I could build a career in too. He encouraged me to reach out to palaeontology professors around the UK; some of which offered me summer research positions in their labs. After getting a taste of doing research full-time, I knew I wanted that to be a large part of my vocation. 

Left side of image has an individual looking thoughtfully into an open drawer that contains small fossils. The right side is a row of cabinets with one open allowing access to the drawers.
Rummaging around palaeontology collections, searching for one cranial bone amongst hundreds of snake vertebrae.
Series of jars of various sizes and shapes all with biological material, specifically snakes. The jars are on a metal shelving unit with labels describing the content of the jars.
Inside a museum herpetology collection: shelves lined with jars of modern snakes preserved in alcohol. These are ideal for comparing modern snake anatomy to that of fossil snakes.

What advice do you have for up and coming scientists? It’s never too early to build yourself a network of scientists. Introduce yourself to researchers whose work you enjoy, respect or are excited to ask questions about. Whilst this can seem daunting, there’s a lot of empathy in the field. For every experienced academic, there was once a shy undergraduate feeling out of their depth – so those scientists worth talking to will be kind to someone new to academia. The vast majority of modern research is not possible without collaborating with others – so find scientists who value you as a researcher and a thinker, irrespective of your ‘academic age’ or academic position. These are the folks you will likely grow the most from, and also have the most fun being a scientist with.  

Background and foreground is a gray rocky area. Left hand size has an individual in field gear with sunglasses on their head. They are smiling. Next to them in the center of the image is a fossil that they are apparently removing rock material from.
Excavating part of a fossil temnospondyl during fieldwork (not a snake, but equally cool). 

Jacqueline S. Silviria, PhD student, research & teaching assistant

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Tell us a little bit about yourself. Greetings! I’m Jacqueline Silviria. I’m originally from Los Angeles, California. I received my BS at the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology, my MS at the University of New Mexico, and am currently working on my PhD at the University of Washington, Seattle. I’ve been a fan of Japanese animation for about a decade, and I collect out-of-print DVD and BluRay boxsets of 1990s-early 2000s series, as well as rare figurines and statues. Recently, I also started collecting 1990s animation cels from series in my media library. Expect me to visit every major North American Japantown and Chinatown at least once in search of vintage merch! I also seek out rare natural history books and articles from the early-mid 20th century, especially those from China, Japan, and the former Soviet Union. That hobby has become much less expensive thanks to internet archives and interlibrary loan services!

Holding an earliest Paleocene “archaic ungulate” jaw from the Burke collections (probably Mimatuta, but I still need to work out the exact species) in the new photogrammetry lab at the UW Life Science Building. The jaw was found by Wilson Mantilla lab alumn Luke Weaver (now at Kent State University) in 2019. The whole animal probably weighed no more than 1-2 kg, about the size of a ferret!

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I’m starting my second year as a PhD student in the UW Department of Earth & Space Science, working in Gregory Wilson Mantilla’s lab in the Department of Biology and the Burke Museum of Natural History & Science. My main research interests are the morphometry, phylogenetic systematics, and biogeography of ungulates (hooved mammals). I’m currently focused on the postcanine dental anatomy of the earliest ungulates in North America, from the aftermath of the Cretaceous/Paleogene (K/Pg) mass extinction. I employ photogrammetry and micro-CT scanning to make 3D models of ungulate jaws and teeth, for collection of shape data important for distinguish different species. I’m planning to print 3D models for use in our Evolution of Mammals and their Ancestors undergraduate course, as well as public outreach events at the Burke Museum. Every summer, I help the Burke’s Hell Creek Project organize and instruct the DIG Field School, which brings K-12 teachers to our K/Pg field sites in Montana, so they bring back the wonders of vertebrate paleontology to their own classrooms. I also recently started The Last King of the Jungle Discord sever for professional researchers to discuss the latest news in mammal paleontology. 

Background includes people and their field gear and a rock outcrop. Foreground has an individual in field attire pointing at a specific layer of rock while looking at the camera.
Here I am at an exposure of the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary at Lerbekmo Hill in Hell Creek State Park, Montana. I’m pointing to a thin reddish-brown clay layer, rich in iridium from the Chicxulub bolide impact 66 million years ago. We dug this section for the DIG teachers to take their own pictures!

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? My first job in paleontology was as a student curator for the invertebrate paleontology teaching collections at New Mexico Tech and the New Mexico Bureau of Geology. It was through this position that I met Thomas Williamson at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, who noticed my enthusiasm for mammalian evolution and systematics; I would later work as a curatorial assistant at the museum while working on my Masters. Since then, my favorite part of research has been collections curation and management, because it allows me to look at material that would otherwise be forgotten. I especially enjoy specimen photography and am quite proficient at focus-stacking images of mammalian teeth (I thank Tom for teaching how). I also taught myself computer software for cladistic analyses of evolutionary relationships; I’m most familiar with the maximum parsimony approach, but I’m hoping to get more fluent in maximum likelihood methods. Such analyses permit a get fresh, quantitative perspective on species and taxa that may have been ignored since their original description, and thus not securely placed in the tree of life.

But while I consider myself a collections-based “armchair” researcher, I also enjoy paleontological fieldwork for the simple pleasure of visiting exotic and remote localities I normally wouldn’t have the time or money to go to. Picking live anthills for mammal teeth and other small fossils is a favorite task of fieldwork, if only for the adrenaline rush of racing against the clock before the ants unplug their nest! And even if I have a bad day at a fossil site, I know I will have learned enough about the geology of the area that it’s worth going back the next year.

I still collect old scientific articles and books on occasion. Here I’m holding an original printing of William Matthew’s Paleocene Faunas of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, auctioned at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology’s 2022 meeting in Toronto. If I remember correctly, this copy was at one point owned by Everett Olson. Matthew’s monograph remains the go-to source of information on many early Paleocene North American ungulate mammals. Photo credit: Thomas Williamson & Sarah Shelley.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? As a transgender woman, I heed the call to serve as a good role model for other LGBTIQA+ students and early career researchers in geology and paleontology, especially given the current political climate in North America and Europe. I think great strides have been taken at LGBTIQA+ representation and equality at paleontological societies compared to other scientific institutions, but more work needs to be done so that we don’t backtrack and repeat the mistakes of the past. Additionally, I’m the first person in my immediate family, trans or otherwise, to pursue a PhD degree.

More importantly, as a collections-based researcher, I feel a responsibility to preserve and protect our public cultural and scientific heritage, particularly when many institutions face the threat of defunding or even privatization. The material housed in natural history museum and university collections comprise an irreplaceable knowledge base for systematic research that permits broader scale “big picture” analyses, like ecological studies on the effects of climate change. I hope that my future outreach efforts online and at the Burke Museum will promote collections curation and management, especially at paleontological institution, so up-and-coming students will see at as an invaluable public service and not simply “rock hounding” or “stamp collecting”.

What advice do you have for up and coming scientists? My advice is to be flexible with approaches and interests in the very beginning, but later consider specializing in what gives you joy and what you excel in. When exploring research programs in your field, acknowledge that ideas and procedures evolve over time, and that absolute certainty is impossible in the natural sciences, but still work towards honoring and preserving the accomplishments of your academic predecessors for future generations. In other words, be anti-authoritarian but authoritative (to paraphrase Niels Bonde’s retrospective on Colin Patterson). And do not shun systematics/taxonomy because it can be difficult for poorly studied groups of organisms; without it, the language of science risks becoming inscrutable garble!

Learn more about Jacqueline on their department webpage.