When most people think of a paleontology museum, they imagine displays of dinosaur skeletons with some nice, shiny signage. But, where does the information on these signs come from? Quite simply: paleontologists, the scientists who study life of the past.
Judging by portrayals on television, science requires test tubes, lab coats, and multi-million dollar equipment. Not so in paleontology! Some of the most important information comes from just looking at a fossil, taking measurements, and comparing with other specimens. On top of this, it doesn't take long to reach the limits of our knowledge. There is so much we don't know, and every fossil has the potential to add important new information. For this reason, *anyone* - whether a high school student, professional paleontologist, or amateur collector - can make a major intellectual contribution.
As one of two paleontologists at the Alf Museum (the other is Dr. Don Lofgren), it's a real joy to involve Webb students in every phase of research. No other high school on Earth has a working paleontology museum, and it offers some absolutely unique opportunities. Students are there from the moment of discovery, right up until publication. They have helped to describe new species, presented their work at professional conferences, and collaborated with world-renowned paleontologists from other institutions.
As one example, Webb students Kit Clark ’04 and Ben Scherer ’02 helped describe the first discovery in Utah of a small mammal called Stygimys. This work (co-authored with Don Lofgren and paleontologist Barbara Standhardt) was published in Journal of Mammalian Evolution. Inspired in part by this experience, Kit is now finishing up his graduate studies in geology at University of Nebraska.
Another student, Gy-Su Kim '10, worked on identifying small carnivorous dinosaur teeth that she and other Webb students collected on a summer trip to southern Utah. Gy-Su presented the work at a professional conference, and consequently was invited as a co-author on a book chapter (to be published next year, if all goes well). Among her fossil identifications was the first possible bird tooth known from the state of Utah - a very rare find!
Our students are working on a diverse array of topics - from dinosaur eggshell to elephant jaws to possible fossilized owl pellets. Because paleontology is such a small field, some of our students have literally become the world experts on their topic of study! It's a lot of fun to see their faces when they come to this realization… when they understand that the knowledge they've discovered isn't in any textbook. It's not even in the professional journals. They are the first human beings to make that discovery. How cool is that? Anyone can do science!
