A letter from the Director, January 2013

Reflecting on 2012
This last year has seen exciting growth in UCMP: four new hires that span the breadth of the Museum — a new faculty member, a new Director of Education and Outreach, and two new staff members that have enabled us to re-open the fossil preparation lab and to launch our first NSF-funded collections improvement grant in a decade; four new graduate students; three amazing new volunteers; three new Ph.D.s; five new grants; and, four new research associates. On top of that we have our award-winning websites, 493 elementary students who learned about the history of life thanks to our ongoing graduate student docent program, record attendance at our 2012 UCMP short course and Evo Summer Institute for teachers, and participation in various regional events including the Bay Area Science Fair (see Tidbits). And all this activity does not include the individual awards, grants, publications, presentations, and other recognitions achieved by members of the UCMP community. It is very gratifying to see UCMP firing on all cylinders!

And I would be remiss if I did not mention all of you who have offered support to our research and education programs through donations as Friends of UCMP. We are extremely grateful to you all for your commitment to UCMP. I cannot wait to see what unfolds in 2013!

Sincerely,
Charles Marshall
Director, UCMP
 

Photo by Jennifer Skene