Photo courtesy of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History

THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY
DISTINGUISHED LECTURER/EDUCATOR PROGRAM

Paleontology excites our imagination, expands our scientific understanding, and prods us to consider our place within the long history of life on our planet.  The Paleontological Society seeks to bring to the general public, as well as the educational and academic communities, an increased awareness of our field’s contributions.
Periodically, the Paleontological Society selects outstanding scientists to serve as its Distinguished Lecturers.  These are people whose current research or other work in paleontology is highly regarded and of broad interest.  Each Distinguished Lecturer is known as an excellent speaker who communicates the interest and importance of his or her work in paleontology especially well.  This program is intended to make outstanding speakers available to address the general public, to conduct workshops for teachers, or to speak in lecture series at colleges and universities.  The Paleontological Society’s current Distinguished Lecturers are listed below.

If your group, department, or institution is interested in inviting a Distinguished Lecturer to make a presentation, please contact the speaker directly.  Financial arrangements must be made with the speaker.  The Distinguished Lecturers have agreed to make themselves available on an expenses-only basis; no honorarium is required.

The Paleontological Society hopes that you will take advantage of this opportunity.  Paleontology is a dynamic discipline, and these speakers will convey the excitement of our science.  If you have questions about this program, please feel free to contact me at swalker@gly.uga.edu.

Sally E. Walker
Councilor-at-Large, The Paleontological Society

 

2008 to 2011 Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecturer

KEVIN J. PETERSON

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Sciences
Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
Dartmouth College
N. College Street
Hanover, NH 03755
Phone: (603) 646-0215
Fax: (603) 646-1347
Email: kevin.j.peterson@dartmouth.edu

•  Molecular Paleobiology

•  The Origin of Animals and the Cambrian Explosion

Dr. Kevin Peterson’s pioneering research uses developmental and molecular biology to better understand the rapid evolution of animals 530 million years ago during the Cambrian Explosion.  In addition to exploring the phylogeny of the sponges and using molecular clocks to date the appearance of the major animal clades, Dr. Peterson’s lab has been pursuing the connection between development and evolution, focusing on the convergent evolution of larval stages across the animal kingdom.  Recent work has also explored the significance of microRNAs, non-coding portions of animal genomes that appears to relate to the complexity of body plans and rise of anatomical innovations in various animal groups.

For more information see http://www.dartmouth.edu/~peterson/

 

2009 to 2012 Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecturer

PETER WILF

Associate Professor of Geosciences
537 Deike Building
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802-2714 USA
phone: +1-814-865-6721
fax: +1-814-863-7823
email: pwilf_at_psu.edu

•  Ancient Biodiversity at the End of the World: Paleogene Floras of Patagonia Rediscovered

•  Insect-Damaged Fossil Leaves Show How Food Webs Respond to Ancient Climate Change and Extinction

•  Fossil Angiosperm Leaves: Paleobotany’s Difficult Children Prove Themselves

Dr. Peter Wilf is a paleobotanist with broad interests in the evolution of plants and terrestrial ecosystems, including response to past climate change and extinction. He is especially interested in questions that test and give deep-time context to modern observations of climate change, biodiversity, ecological processes, and biogeography. Most of Dr. Wilf’s work is based on his field studies of latest Cretaceous through middle Eocene (66-45 Ma) fossil sites in Patagonia, Argentina, and the Western Interior USA. This eventful time interval has profoundly shaped the modern world, including latest Cretaceous climate changes, the end-Cretaceous mass extinction and ensuing recovery, and global warming across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Dr. Wilf also engages in a number of modern analog studies, including insect herbivory, leaf shape-to-climate relationships, and the decoding of leaf venation characters. The lecture topics listed above can each be presented at any level, from introductory to technical.
For more information see http://www.geosc.psu.edu/~pwilf

 

2009 to 2012 Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecturer

PATRICIA H. KELLEY

Professor, Department of Earth Sciences
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
601 South College Road
Wilmington, NC 28403-5944
Phone: (910) 962-7406     Fax: (910) 962-7077
Email: kelleyp@uncw.edu

•  Teaching Evolution with Integrity and Sensitivity

•  Evolution and Creation: Conflicting of Compatible?

• The Arms Race from a Snail's Perspective: Evolution of the Naticid Gastropod Predator - Prey System

Dr. Kelley was recently elected to be a Centennial Fellow of the Paleontological Society.  As a Distinguished Lecturer, Dr. Kelley seeks to bridge the divide between acknowledgment — even celebration — of the reality of evolution and beliefs maintained by the great religious traditions.  She is eager to participate in workshops designed for teachers AND IS ALSO AVAILABLE TO PRESENT PUBLIC LECTURES OR RESEARCH SEMINARS. Dr. Kelley’s own research focuses on the evolution and paleoecology of Cenozoic molluscs from the southeastern United States.  She is especially interested in predator-prey interactions and their role in the evolution of strategies that are employed by snails to capture prey and by clams and snails to avoid predation. 

For more information, see http://www.uncw.edu/earsci/PeopleKelley.htm