Meet the Scientist

The goal of this page is to introduce you to how diverse science is by exploring what individual scientists do! We hope that you will learn how many different avenues you can take to explore the natural world around us. Each guest scientist will also explain what type of data they use, why they enjoy science, and share some advice for young future scientists. Other similar blogs include Dr. Sarah Sheffield’s Scientist of the Week, Fossil Guy’s paleontologist interviews, The Female Scientist portraits, and Rock-Head Sciences. If you would like to contribute a Meet the Scientist blog post, please click here to download a template with more instructions!

Lorna Kearns, Palaeoecologist & Palaeoceanographer

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On fieldwork in Texas sampling an outcrop of Cretaceous sediment to understand local conditions prior to the extinction event. Photo credit Chris Lowery.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. I am from the Northwest of the UK so was incredibly fortunate to grow up surrounded by national parks such as Eryri National Park (Snowdonia) and the UK coast. Thanks to this upbringing I am passionate about the outdoors and enjoy walking, cycling, bird watching and paddleboarding. I also enjoy travelling and have been lucky enough to visit some amazing places through my research. When I am at home, I enjoy cooking and exploring new cuisines.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I find it quite hard to define what I do but broadly I am a palaeoecologist. My research focuses on understanding ecosystem responses and recovery from environmental stress using single celled marine organisms called foraminifera. Using a combination of techniques including geochemistry, statistical analyses and more recently micro-CT scanning I can understand how these marine organisms were growing, living, and evolving over millions of years and how that relates to the climate through geological time. I love learning new techniques and combining them with traditional methods to view ecosystems from a new perspective. One of the great things about my research is I get to wander through geological time and investigate interesting periods for example my current research focuses on ocean recovery following the end-Cretaceous mass extinction event (the one that killed the dinosaurs) but I am now also working on projects related to the Messinian Salinity Crisis when the Mediterranean Sea dried up.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I have always been interested in science, even as a small child I loved reading books about volcanoes and marine life. I really enjoyed science in school but really struggled with the pure science aspects, especially anything involving math, which I always felt would hold me back from being a scientist. Luckily, I had a great support network, and I was able to overcome a lot of these struggles and gain a place at the University of Leeds to study geology, a subject I was always curious about but never saw myself doing as a career. 14 years later and I’m still studying geology, so it was definitely a good choice! Geology turned out to be the ideal subject as it combine all the sciences to understand the world we live in. I am still intimidated by maths but try to push through that so much so that most of my research involves statistics and coding something I would never have though possible even five years ago. One of my favorite things about being a scientist, and a geologist, is the opportunity to travel. I have been able to visit at least six different countries including Chile and New Zealand and have participated in research expeditions to the South Atlantic and currently the Tyrrhenian Sea.

This is me on-board RRS Discovery in the South Atlantic standing next to the sediment cores we had just collected from the Falkland Plateau.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? A lot of my research focuses on understanding how ecosystems respond to climatic events which is really important and fundamental to understanding how ecosystems will respond to current and future human induced warming events. There is a lot of focus on ecosystem restoration in current scientific policy, particularly in the marine environment, yet there are still a lot of gaps in our understanding of recovery processes. My research works to address these gaps by using various events in geological time and uncovering the patterns and processes of ecosystem recovery. By filling in these gaps policy makers can make more informed decisions about marine restoration projects and marine monitoring.

What advice do you have for prospective scientists? I have been extremely fortunate to have had amazing mentors in my career and have therefore been given a lot of useful advice. The best piece of advice I’ve been given was to be patient. There is a pressure to continuously get results and keep moving on to bigger and better things and it’s very easy to get caught up in that mentality. But science takes time and sometimes in your career it can be much more beneficial to maybe take a sidestep and learn something new rather than pushing forward all the time. I still struggle with this advice but now try and take a step back before making big decisions. Another great piece of advice that is applicable for everyone is to write everything down. You might think you will remember, but you won’t! Even now I refer to notebooks from 8-10 years ago to get information or to go back to ideas I had but never had time to explore.

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.

 

Maria Filomena Loreto, Physical Properties Expert

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Background includes the ocean and various aspects on a research vessel. The foreground has people holding a core that was pulled from the ocean floor with one person cutting a section of the core.
I’m on board a research vessel. We carried out a gravity core during an oceanographic cruise and I’m cutting the core into 1-meter-long subsections. 

I’m a marine geologist thus interested in studying of solid Earth. Particularly, my research activity is focused in studying the evolution over time of our submerged Earth system, in this case taking attention on how deep basins, forming at the rear of a mountain chains and named back-arc basins, forms and their relationships with volcanoes or magma upwelling. Over this my interest are toward the various geological risks that can affect our life and that are earthquakes 

and related tsunamis, landslides and tectonically- or climate change-controlled sea level changes. I realize these studies integrating the geophysical methods with geological information coming from sampled sediments. Geophysical methods are based on instruments (multibeam swath bathymetry, high-resolution sub-bottom profiles, single and multichannel seismic data) that allow to investigate the seafloor and the sub-seafloor rocks. The seafloor morphology in back-arc basins is more complex than one might imagine: here seafloor can reach depth over 4000 m below seafloor, and there are numerous submerged mountains that can be of volcanic- or tectonic-origin and can have dimensions sometimes huge. Between these mountains several canyons, sometimes hundred km long, flow from the coast to the oceanic deep moving enormous quantities of sediments. Deep basins or back-arc basins are formed as a consequence of the convergence between two plates or block of continents. The force generated by the convergence push the denser and heavier, even if thinner, oceanic crust to sink under the other oceanic crust (see the Mariana system) or continental crust (see the Apennine system) which, being less dense, floats. The subducting oceanic crust, called a slab, retreats as it sinks, forcing the upper continental or oceanic crust to follow it. This means that a block of crust breaks away from the continent and drifts, creating the conditions for magma to rise. The break is realized throughout the formation of discontinuities or faults generating earthquakes and, being 

submerged, the energy released is able to trigger tsunamis. Sometimes the fragmentation of rocks creates conditions of gravitational instability that trigger landslides and gas emissions. Furthermore, seismic images of the rocks have revealed particular events associated with the lowering of the sea floor during past ice eras. Identifying and analyzing the frequency, recurrence, intensity of these events in the past, and how the Earth system reacts to these thermal changes will help better constrain modeling of future global changes. All these events and phenomena are recorded within sediments, thus by drilling and sampling it we are able to identify them and date. Combining these information with the seismic images of the subseafloor and with the seabed we can reconstruct the history of submerged continental margins and of deep basins, and also do paleo-climate reconstruction. All these studies improve risk analysis and make the lives of people and animals safer. Knowing our earth system allows us to adequately protect it.

Tell us a little bit about yourself and describe your hobbies and interests outside of science. Outside of science I have a passion for dance. In my life I have practiced different types of dance: modern and jazz dance, southern dance, african dance and recently I started pole dancing. This also inspired me to create a performance that combines pole dancing with science, which speaks to the health of the sea. The pole dancer moves in a volume of air as fishes move in a volume of water. I also like fashion and art.I love cats, I love them like children and I cried a lot and I still cry for the loss of my cat named Tiger. Two years after his death I got another cat, she is female, and I am in love again.

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? Describe what your role is and your title; this can be on the ship and/or in your current career. I am a first level researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences – National Research Council. I carry out all the activities ranging from writing a proposal, to participating in the oceanographic cruise in order to collect data, processing, analysis and finally writing an article or presentations of results. On board I often play the role of head of mission, but I also take part in technical operations, such as deployment and recovery of the seismic system, core sampling, morphobathymetric acquisition.

Do you use proxy data for research? What are those proxy data? The paleo-morphology of the seafloor to have evidence for climate change. Foramnifera to date sediment layers and turbidites to date earthquakes. Chemism of magmatic rocks to have information on processes that occur in the earth interior.

Background is an office setting with a screen showing scientific results. The person in the foreground is pointing at this screen with results and is smiling.
I’m working in my office. I am analyzing the high-resolution image of the seabed looking for structures capable of generating earthquakes or evidence of climate changes that occurred in the past (paleoclimatic study). 

Do you conduct outreach, and if so, who do you communicate science to? Not systematically. Occasionally, I take part to events and with my dance and science performance, or a geophysical lab we have created (bathymetric maps, map of submerged risks, seismic method)

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? My favorite part is the beginning. When I was young, before university, I read popular magazines and one day I read about a large oceanographic ship that went out to sea collecting data to explore the depths of the ocean in order to understand the processes that allowed its evolution. I was so fascinated by it that I decided to enroll in the faculty of geology with the idea of going to sea. But I was at the university of a small city in central southern Italy, where the main studies were aimed at the tectonics of mountain systems and the seismogenic faults that had generated large earthquakes destroying several villages in the region. Towards the end of my fourth year of university I had lost hope of going to sea, but one day a professor said “there might be a possibility for some students to join a group on an oceanographic cruise. Are any of you interested?” I immediately said “I’m interested!”. A few months later I was on a ship and that was the beginning of my scientific life. But I had to leave my family and many of my friends and move from south to north Italy.

Discuss other scientific interests. I am interested in astrophysics, knowing how the Universe evolves and whether there are other life forms beyond us. This is just a curiosity and when I have the opportunity, I go to listen seminars or read some more informative articles. My legend is Margherita Hack, a great astrophysicist who loves cats.

How did you learn about scientific ocean drilling? During my work, I used data acquired during the old ODP program and thus I know of this huge and important program.

Multipart scientific figure showing a transect of drill holes, the rock sections for each drill site, and the seismic data for each drill hole. These data, together, help understand the sub-seafloor and shape of the sea floor.
This figure is a summary of my work. I integrated the analysis of geological data derived from wells drilling with seismic images of the sub-seafloor and the morphology of the seabed. 
 

 How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? Through the analysis of how the mantle rises, how faults control the exhumation of the mantle, how fluids circulate along fault planes influencing block movements, how faults can rupture generating earthquakes, the recurrence and the sliding of blocks. All this helps us to better understand the evolution of the Earth and evaluate its geological risks.

Are you training the next generation of scientists? I train students through curricular internships, graduate thesis and doctoral students.

What advice do you have for prospective scientists? Be passionate, courageous, opened, positive, build good relations and try to fly to go where your scientific imagination tells you to go, but at the same time be rigorous.

Have you received a piece of advice from your friends/mentors/advisors that has helped you navigate your career? Become an expert in an area and build your skills so that you become strong in your research area.

Follow Maria’s updates on LinkedIn.

Walter Menapace, Marine Geologist/Sedimentologist

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Tell us a little bit about yourself, describe your hobbies and interests outside of science. I like to hike with friends, mountain bike, climb, football, basically all kind of sports that imply being outdoor in the mountains. In Germany, I trained a football team of international students and we played a European tournament in Athens (Greece).

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I am a PostDoc researcher in Marine Geology, especially focusing on i) mud volcanoes, gas- and mud-spewing structures similar to magmatic volcanoes; and ii) paleoseismology, studying the effect of extreme events related to earthquakes on the sedimentary archive of the ocean seafloor. In a sense, I am using i) mud volcanoes as deep boreholes to explore the interior of subduction zones (unreachable through scientific drilling), by analyzing their sediments’ / fluids’ geochemical and mineralogical composition; and ii) event deposits to reconstruct the paleoseismic history of a certain region.

Background includes research and mechanical equipment on a scientific research vessel. Foreground includes a person trying on a bright orange thermal immersion suit while smiling.
Trying on a thermal immersion suit during a safety drill onboard a research vessel.

Do you conduct outreach, and if so, who do you communicate science to? I am trying to convey my science to the general public through diverse media (radio podcasts, news magazines, conferences/talks), in order to explain the societal application (and relevance) of what can be seen as quite abstract such as scientific research.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I started as and onland geologist as a university student due to my love for the outdoors and evolved into a marine geologist. I did not know anything related to marine geology until my PhD. I like basically everything that has to do with scientific innovation and green-energy, plus I am fascinated by biology.

How did you learn about scientific ocean drilling? If you are a marine geologist you should know the history of DSDP-ODP-IODP by heart 😉 I also participated in a previous IODP expedition.

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? Subduction zones are where all the most destructive earthquakes (Mw>8) happen on earth. Nonetheless, several aspects of these complex geotectonic settings still remain obscure. Through the study of mud volcanism and paleoseismology I am trying to understand fluid and solid cycles in subduction zones, which play a role in their evolution and record past earthquakes. Understanding the seismic hazard coming from subduction zones and informing the population and the stakeholders on the risk implicated is key for an effective risk management.

View is from an aerial perspective so the background is the base of the ship deck, wooden planks. The person in the foreground is securing a piece of equipment used in pulling rock core up out of the ocean and onto the vessel.
Securing a gravity corer on the deck of a research vessel after retrieval.

Are you training the next generation of scientists? I am advising several PhD/MSc/BSc students, and I taught university courses/gave seminars to future scientists in the past.

Do you engage in community science? Whenever I discover something new on the seafloor I try to involve the local population in taking part with the naming process of the features.

What advice do you have for prospective scientists? It is above all a vocational path, in particular marine geoscience. I was born in the Italian Alps and could never have imagined that I would love being on a research vessel so much. Nothing will forge you better as a scientist then your motivation and drive for knowledge.

Brandon Shuck, Marine Geophysicist

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Background is a sunset over the ocean. Foreground is a masculine person in a vest and hard hat standing at the edge of a ship smiling.
Brandon working on the deck of the R/V Marcus G. Langseth during a marine seismic expedition offshore Mexico. Brandon was helping retrieve seismometer instruments that traveled all the way down to the seafloor and recorded geophysical data to understand earthquake hazards along the Middle America subduction zone. Having the night shift means getting to experience amazing sunrises with nothing but endless ocean.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. I grew up in Colorado along the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. I am passionate about the outdoors and spending time in nature. In my free time, I enjoy skiing, mountain biking, hiking, paddle boarding, disc golf, fitness, and cooking. I recently got into BBQing (smoked meats and veggies), and various fermentation projects (kombucha and fermented hot sauce).

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do? I am a solid-earth geophysicist and my research lies at the intersection of tectonics, geophysics, structural geology, and basin analysis. I am interested in the structure and evolution of the Earth’s lithosphere at tectonic plate boundaries. I primarily use active-source geophysical data to indirectly image the properties of rocks deep in the subsurface that we cannot “see” otherwise. I get excited about using new technology to make stronger connections between tectonic processes and the geologic record. My research studies processes in the Earth’s lithosphere on both geologic time scales and human time scales. Tectonic plates move very slow, so it can be challenging to think about dynamics that take place over millions of years! I am also interested in geology on human time scales, such as earthquakes, volcanic events, and the role of geosciences in providing energy for our society. 

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? I got interested in geology at a young age growing up in Colorado Springs where I was naturally curious about strange rock formations, such as the vertical sedimentary rocks in the Garden of the Gods. I decided to attend Western Colorado University, a small school in Gunnison, Colorado. In the Western geology program, I was exposed to the incredible rock formations and was fascinated by the stories they told about Earth’s past. I also became interested in mathematics and ended up getting a double major in geology and math. After graduation, I wanted to combine geology and math which led me into geophysics and PhD studies at UT Austin. At UT, I was fortunate to participate in several marine field expeditions that got me very excited about sea-going research and all the amazing tectonic processes happening in the Earth’s oceans. What I love most about my work is the feeling of exploration and discovery and contributing to our knowledge about some of the remote areas of our planet. 

How did you learn about scientific ocean drilling? I first came across scientific ocean drilling in graduate school where I was learning about the history of Plate Tectonic theory. I was amazed at how much we could learn by sampling rocks in the oceans where we cannot easily “see” them like rocks on land. I am very grateful to participate in a scientific ocean drilling expedition and contribute to the legacy of the program. 

How does your work contribute to the betterment of society in general? My research helps us better understand aspects of plate tectonics that we still have outstanding questions: How do continents break apart and form new oceans? How do subduction zones initiate and terminate? Why do some faults break in large earthquakes and others release energy slowly? I am passionate about sharing the joy of geosciences with the public. General knowledge of the geosciences is important for many pressing problems in society: climate change, energy industry, life on earth, and hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Nearly 40% of the global population lives within 100 km of the coastline where there are many geologic processes that can affect their lives. I hope that my research on geologic hazards at tectonic plate boundaries will help strengthen our societal resilience to these events and better understand the risks and threats to various communities. 

Background is bright blue sky, nearly white. Foreground contains chevron folds that are zigzag layers with a person for scale leaning on the rocks.
Hanging out on folded rocks in Crete, Greece. This outcrop is famous for its beautiful Chevron-style of folds evident in the deformed “zig-zagging” rock layers. The angled fold limbs made for a perfect spot to relax after spending time looking at the rocks in detail.

 What advice do you have for prospective scientists? Anyone can do science! I had a non-traditional background into science and was a bad student in high-school. At that time, I would never have thought I would be capable of getting degrees in geology and mathematics and doing science for a living! It turns out that success in academia is really about good mentorship and finding what you are passionate about. Just because you were not good at something does not mean it will always be that way. I am fortunate to have had a lot of amazing mentors and teachers along my journey that were patient, supportive, and gave me unwavering encouragement. Don’t fear the failures (which are inevitable), but instead stay determined and follow your dreams. 

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.

Valerie Trinidad, Geologist

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Preparation laboratory with a sink, benchtop, and various laboratory equipment. Individual sitting at a grinding wheel preparing samples.
Preparing thin sections.

Hi! My name is Valerie Trinidad and I’m a recent Geology graduate from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. I like to go for nature walks and collect minerals and rocks (and take the occasional plant home). Although I have yet to visit most, I also like collecting stamps and cards from National Parks.

My favorite subject has always been science and I am particularly interested in pursuing studies related to vertebrate paleontology. I enjoy educating people about the wonderful field of paleontology and the importance of studies in STEM, especially my Puerto Rican community. I engage in outreach activities through talks and exhibitions in collaboration with different associations that promote science communication to the general public. 

For my undergraduate research I worked with crocodilians from the Oligocene of southern Puerto Rico. In addition, I also conducted an investigation using osteohistological (study of the bone tissue) analysis from Triassic vertebrate assemblages to explore climate variation across Southern Pangea, with the aim to shed light on the early tolerances of the first dinosaurs and animal groups that originated during this period (i.e., mammals and lepidosaurs). My favorite part is looking at the bones under the microscope (which can be very beautiful), and I find it incredible just how much information is preserved inside these fossils from long, long ago.

My advice for those who are interested in pursuing related studies is the following: It’s not easy, but it definitely isn’t impossible. If you are determined to continue this path, you need to find a way to connect with others and engage in related activities and experiences in whichever way you can. Contacting people can be a bit challenging, but it is key to getting started (there are also mentorship programs out there to help you connect with the right people). In particular, if you identify with underrepresented groups, such as me (a Hispanic woman), it is important to stay and carry on despite any hardships you may encounter. Our persistence is what will further push through the barriers for a more diverse and accepting environment within the scientific community.

A crowded room with a long table set up with specimens on it. Individuals behind the table are sharing information with visitors and using the specimens as reference items.
Paleo Outreach
Large format poster of scientific work that is being presented by the individual at a conference. To the right of the poster is the presenter with their name badge smiling.
Undergraduate Research Poster Presentation.

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.

Adam Moore, Vertebrate Paleontology Master’s Student

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background contains an off white museum cabinet with thin drawers. foreground is Adam, an individual with glasses and brown hair, holding up a visiting researcher name badge
Taking a break from field work to look at Falcarius vertebrae as a visiting researcher in the Natural History Museum of Utah’s (UMNH) paleontology collections.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi! I am Adam Moore. I am a 1st year MS graduate student at North Carolina State University. Originally, I am from Kill Devil Hills, NC (a part of the Outer Banks of coastal North Carolina). This past May, I finished up my Bachelor’s Degree from North Carolina State University with a BS in Geology and two Minors in Biological Sciences and Paleontology. When not working on school or research, I enjoy reading (typically about dinosaurs!), photography, hiking, camping, visiting museums, and traveling. In fact, I love these so much that, after field work in Utah this past summer, I decided to drive back to North Carolina from Utah so that I could visit a few of the National Parks and museums along the way! 

What kind of scientist are you and what do you do?

I am a Master’s student in Geology working on becoming a vertebrate paleontologist with a focus on dinosaurs. As of now, since I am just starting out, I do an assortment of things related to paleontology. Currently, I have a few different research projects I am working on along with my Master’s Thesis. 

During my Bachelor’s Degree, in 2022, I started a research project in the biology department at my school that involved identifying fossilized shark teeth from one specific site. This is something that I am currently still working on. At that time, I was also involved in an internship at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in the Paleontology Lab where I worked on an assortment of different projects around the lab. I eventually started a project that developed further into a research project. The research involved the vertebrae of an early-diverging therizinosaur known as Falcarius utahensis to understand parts of its ontogeny. To my delight, I will have the chance to present my research on Falcarius at the 2023 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference in the form of a poster. 

Background contains light colored sandstone rock with blue sky in the far back. Foreground contains Adam with windblown hair, sunglasses, and a smile. Notably Adam's shirt is covered in dust and dirt from a day of fieldwork.
Extremely dirty wearing a no-longer-white shirt in the badlands of Utah during paleontology field work.

This past August, at the start of the school semester, I began working on my Master’s Thesis. The research I am doing for my MS involves a mix of paleoclimate and dinosaurs. I will be looking at data from a few different sites in Western North America from the Cretaceous Period to better understand the climates of those regions to see how it impacted dinosaurs from Laramidia. 

Outside of direct research, I have also been fortunate enough to be involved in paleontology in other ways as well through the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. For the last two summers (2022 and 2023), I have done field work in the Cedar Mountain Formation in Utah. Participating in field work is, in my opinion, one of the coolest aspects of paleontology. I mean, when you uncover a new fossil, you get to be the first human to ever see those fossils! It is always great being out there finding new material (or at least trying to find new material)! 

Background has dark gray clouds with some falling rain. Light tan sandstone rocks cover the landscape. Foreground has Adam with windblown hair, sunglasses, a rain coat, and other field gear.
During paleontology field work in Utah preparing for a summer afternoon rainstorm.

What is your favorite part about being a scientist, and how did you get interested in science? Simple curiosity, wonder, and excitement in the unknown drove my interest in science. I have been interested in science for as long as I can remember (specifically anything involving dinosaurs). I have always been a collector of sorts, and due to that, basically since I could walk, I was always searching the ground or combing the shore for interesting things to take back home. Growing up on the coastal community of the Outer Banks, I would go out to find interesting rocks, bones, shells, and, if I were lucky, fossils all along the beach and take them back to my home to clean them up and organize them accordingly. I was, as many kids are, a “dinosaur kid.” I was absolutely fascinated by them growing up and just never grew out of it. Based on picture evidence, since the time I could develop interests, I was never found without a dinosaur toy (or two or maybe even a whole backpack…) or book in hand everywhere I went. I knew from an early age that I wanted to grow up to become a paleontologist specializing in dinosaurs. This became extra solidified when I saw my first dinosaur mount as a young child at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. I remember reading all of the plaques and looking at all of the specimens in their dinosaur section with it culminating in the glass dome encasing the Acrocanthosaurus frozen in time and thinking something along the lines of “yeah, this is exactly what I want to do” while looking up at the massive dinosaur in absolute awe. Now being involved with the lab at this same museum, it is a full circle moment for me that I don’t take for granted. 

Honestly, those moments of curiosity and wonderment are some of my favorite parts about being a scientist. Being curious by asking questions about dinosaurs (and paleontology, in general) and answering them (attempting to, at least) through field work, data collecting and analyzing, and research always excites me. We are figuring things out about our incredible planet’s past, and it always astounds me how much we know and, at the same time, how much more there is for us to learn. Filling in those gaps is something that drives me in my research and desire to be a paleontologist. Also, communicating that knowledge to other people is something else I personally enjoy. It is always rewarding to see their curiosity and wonderment grow as you relay information to them about the past in engaging and understandable ways.

Background has blue sky, a tall mountain range. Closer to the foreground is a gravely slab. Adam is in the foreground is Adam in a hat and sunglasses with a smile.
Enjoying a hike in McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains to look for Permian fossils with his classmates (not pictured) on the North Carolina State University’s Geology Fall Break trip.

What advice do you have for up-and-coming scientists? My first piece of advice for up-and-coming scientists would be to get involved in any way you can. Talk to your local museum about internships and volunteer opportunities that you could be a part of. There might even be a possibility to volunteer out in the field with other paleontologists too. This is a good way to figure out what you like and what you do not like. Sometimes, knowing what you don’t like can be just as valuable as knowing what you do like. If you find that you do not like certain aspects of paleontology, don’t get discouraged. For example, I know a few paleontologists who don’t consider themselves “field paleontologists”, and that is perfectly fine because there are other opportunities in this field that do not require them to go out into the field and they are still great scientists. If you find something that you really like, try getting a mentor or advisor that can further help you too. Getting good mentors are one of the best things you can do when you are first starting out. 

Another piece of advice I have is to really dive into the available literature. This could include things like books, papers, articles, among other things. By delving into the literature, you can see what other paleontologist are doing and what sort of issues they are tackling. This can help you better understand the field of paleontology and to develop research questions of your own too. If you find something you are interested in and you want to know more, try reaching out to the authors. This is a good way to virtually network with other scientists in the field and, while it can be intimidating, the worst thing that can happen is that they do not respond. I also want to say to not get discouraged if something does not happen the way you planned or would have liked for it to go. Sometimes there are setbacks to your career plans, but there will always be more opportunities in the future!