After graduating from Colorado College with my undergraduate Geology degree, I worked at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science for two years, and it was an amazing experience that shaped my future in paleontology and paved my path into graduate studies in paleobotany. My primary role at DMNS was to move and stratigraphically organize the paleobotany collections into the brand new collections facility. I also worked through the preparation of a large backlog of fossil plants that needed to be processed and integrated into the collections. A key part of completing this giant task was leading a stellar team of paleobotany curation and preparation volunteers.
Field Work with DMNS
One of the major job perks was getting to participate in the dynamic field program at DMNS led by the curators. DMNS is one of the only top museums in the country that has an active collection program. So many amazing discoveries are being made across the Western Interior, and it was amazing to have the opportunity to contribute to that and learn not only how to run a fossil plant quarry, but also how to prospect for and excavate dinosaurs, vertebrate fossils, and microvertebrates. A sampling of these amazing sites I worked at are shown below.
Late Cretaceous Hell Creek and Paleocene Fort Union formations Lands of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, Cheyenne, Assiniboine, Michif Piyii (Métis), Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Hunkpapa nations.
Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah, Laramida Project
Late Cretaceous Kaiparowits and Wahweap formations Lands of the Hopi, Zuni, Dine/Navajo, San Juan Southern Paiute, Kaibab Paiute, Ute, Ute Mountain Ute, Jemez Pueblo, and Acoma nations.