Social paleontology is upon us. The style of communication among our stakeholders is evolving rapidly: When we proposed the FOSSIL project just two-and-a-half years ago, our primary means of communication was by meetings, the e-newsletter, and the initial myFOSSIL website. With the explosion of social media (e.g., Facebook and Twitter) and highly interactive web sites that also host chats, groups, blogs etc., social paleontology is exploding too. We hope that when myFOSSIL 2.0, is released, you will find it a go-to place to communicate and learn about the science of paleontology. We are close to announcing the release of the beta-version of myFOSSIL 2.0 which is designed to be a social space where anyone interested in fossils and paleontology will want to come together, learn and socialize in cyberspace. It’s a new space for social paleontology.
After a national search in which we had more than 100 applicants, we have hired a new FOSSIL project coordinator, Eleanor Gardner. Eleanor has a Master’s degree in geology/paleontology from the University of Georgia, and currently is a geology instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She has diverse interests and experience in paleo education and outreach. We will publish a longer bio about Eleanor once she joins us later this Spring, but for now we are delighted that she will be part of the FOSSIL team. Eleanor’s role as FOSSIL project coordinator will be to run the day-to-day components of the project, keep in contact with our stakeholders, organize travel and participate in talks, workshops and other events that promote the goals of FOSSIL.
The FOSSIL project has added several other new members to its core team. Along with the senior personnel, including me, Kent Crippen, Betty Dunckel, and Shari Ellis, we have Lisa Lundgren, who has filled in admirably as our interim project coordinator, and graduate students Victor Perez, Julia Tejada, with recent help provided by Sharon Holte. We also have hired a postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Ronny Leder. Read more about Ronny here.
Student Awards
Each year the SW Florida Fossil Society awards two scholarships to deserving students in Florida Paleontology. One is the Mitchell Hope Scholarship and the other is the Bill and Lelia Brayfield scholarship. Mitchell and the Brayfields were long-time members of the SWFFC, avid fossil enthusiasts, and always welcomed us to their homes to see and study their collections. This year the SWFFS has awarded the Mitchell Hope scholarship to to Julia Tejada. A native of Peru, Julia is close to completing her Masters degree under the supervision of Bruce MacFadden at the University of Florida. She is studying the chemistry of Miocene mammal teeth to understand the ancient ecology of the proto-Amazon rainforest of Peru.
The Bill and Leila Brayfield Scholarship has been awarded to Kathryn (Katy) Estes-Smargiassi, a 2nd year M.S. student in Museum Studies at the University of Florida. Katy’s research focuses on Scaphopods (tusk shells). Scaphopods have remained understudied in the fossil record and only a few reports of predation on them exists. The aim of Katy’s research is to increase the knowledge of scaphopods in general, and in particular, about the predation record in scaphopod fossils. Katy plans to examine several genera (e.g., Anatalis, Graptacme, Tesseracme) of scaphopods collected from the lower Pinecrest beds (Units 4-9) of the Tamiami Formation (upper Pliocene), from Phase 10 of SMR Aggregates, Inc. in Sarasota, Florida.