Jen is working as a Research Museum Collection Manger at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology. She cares for the 2 million + fossil invertebrate specimens which means maintaining specimen storage, database management, digitization, and more! She completed her PhD at The University of Tennessee with Dr. Colin Sumrall. She focuses on understanding the evolution of an extinct group of echinoderms called blastoids. Her research has focused on incorporating the internal anatomy (respiratory structures, gut, gonads) into understanding the evolution of the group through the Paleozoic. Jen’s Master’s degree was centered on understanding the evolutionary relationships of an extinct (no longer living) group of brachiopods. Jen has been heavily involved with evolution outreach through Darwin Day events at UT and other projects to provide fossils to local educators. She is an avid volunteer at the McClung Museum of Natural History and Culture and provides classroom visits to discuss geology and fossils at local schools. In her spare time, Jen enjoys trail running, mountain biking, hiking, knitting Harry Potter scarves, and lounging with her two cats. Check out Jen’s posts.