In the fall of 2014, UCMP was a major presence at the annual meetings of two professional societies, the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP). Student attendance at the conferences was close to an all time high, thanks in part to the generosity of UCMP donors whose support helps to fund travel grants and awards earned by students.
Eighteen UCMPers presented at the GSA meeting — the Society's 126th — in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, on October 19-22. Members of four different labs attended the meeting including the Padian Labs' Ashley Poust, Sara ElShafie, Liz Ferrer, and recent graduate Sarah Tulga (talk). Undergraduate student Eric Holt from the Barnosky Lab presented a poster.
From the Finnegan Lab were Seth Finnegan (talk and co-author on two others) and grad students Emily Orzechowski (talk and co-author on a poster) and Caitlin Boas (poster and co-author on two others). Cindy Looy (talk and co-author on three others) came with Adjunct Curator/Adjunct Assistant Professor Ivo Duijnstee (talk) and Looy Lab grad students Shih-Yi (Winnie) Hsiung (talk) and Renske Kirchholtes (talk). The lone representative from the Marshall Lab was Lucy Chang.
UCMP staff Mark Goodwin (talk and co-author on another), Pat Holroyd (talk, co-author on two others, and co-author on a poster), and Lisa White (poster and co-author on a talk) presented at the Vancouver meeting, and Museum Scientist Erica Clites (talk) and Postdoctoral Scholar Jessica Bean (talk and co-author on two posters) were also present.
The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology has met annually for 74 years and 2014 marked the first time that the annual meeting was held in continental Europe. Berlin, Germany, was the host city and the meeting (November 5-8) included field trips to classic localities such as the Solenhofen limestone, where Archaeopteryx lithographica was discovered. Attendees enjoyed a reception at the Museum für Naturkunde where the Archaeopteryx Berlin specimen is on display in the grand Jurassic Hall, along with some of the largest mounted dinosaur skeletons in the world.
Representing the Barnosky Lab at SVP were Tony Barnosky himself, giving a talk entitled "Fossil evidence for lasting ecological transformation as a result of defaunation," and his grad students Allison Stegner (talk) and Zixiang Zhang (poster). There was a good crowd from the Padian Lab: Kevin Padian (talk); grad students Ashley Poust (poster), Sara ElShafie (poster), and Liz Ferrer (poster); and Sarah Tulga (poster). UCMP collections staff were also in attendance: Mark Goodwin (co-author on two posters) and Pat Holroyd (principal author on one poster, co-author on another, and co-author on two talks). Other members of the UCMP community in attendance were Lisa White (presenting a poster in the education and outreach session), undergrad Savannah Blake, and Research Associate Ralph Molnar.
UCMP's attendance at these meetings was impressive; can the museum do even better in 2015? The next SVP meeting will be in Dallas, Texas, in mid-October, and the GSA is in Baltimore, Maryland, in early November.
UCMP participation at other conferences in fall 2014 is highlighted in the Tidbits section.