Students are an important part of the Museum of Paleontology. Undergraduates can receive a Paleontology Minor through the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and use the museum faculty and facilities to help them conduct research and write senior theses. For students more interested in hands on aspects of paleontology, we frequently have opportunities for work-study students, UROP students, as well as interested undergraduates to work in the fossil preparation laboratory. Occasionally, opportunities for field work arise, either locally or in remote areas.
Most of our graduate students have a bachelor's degree in Geology, but some also arrive via Biology programs. Paleontology is a unique synthesis of many fields, and the research collaborations of our graduate students with faculty in subdisciplines around the University and elsewhere reflect this. They may conduct analyses in the Stable Isotope and EMAL labs within the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, work with Dental School staff to histological or microCT analyses, learn computer programming in order to enhance data analysis and manipulation, make thin sections of mineralized tissues to determine age or other aspects of life history, or dissect modern animals in order to understand aspects of functional anatomy. Some of their research clusters around the research interests of the faculty advising them, but students develop their own projects as well.
If you are a student and are interested in joining the museum, please contact our curators or research associates for research and work opportunities.
