Goodwin finished his bachelor’s degree at UC Berkeley while working as a preparator in UCMP. He then went to Montana with Dr. Bill Clemens. Goodwin helped Clemens’s graduate students collect specimens while formulating and answering a number of his own questions about the fauna. With the results of this research, Goodwin earned his master’s degree. This field work also initiated a long-term collaboration that has spanned over two decades. Goodwin has worked with Clemens and others in various localities from the freezing North Slope of Alaska to the Blue Nile Gorge in Ethiopia.

Goodwin (left) in Ethiopia with colleagues Chuck Schaff, Howard Hutchison, and C.B. Wood.

Changing roles at UCMP
“When I first went out there,” says Goodwin, “I was younger than most of the graduate students.”

After earning his master’s degree, Goodwin continued working at UCMP, focusing on research and collections, now as a Museum Scientist. He focused his research efforts on the topic of bone development in dome-headed pachycephalosaurs and Triceratops.

“Getting the Ph.D. was something I’d always wanted to do, but I didn’t want to do it until I was ready. I’ve gotten all of my degrees a little later than the average student. It’s nice that there’s a group of older students at Davis, and we’re a little more stable, but I told my son not to wait until he is forty to go back to graduate school.”

Future directions
Goodwin plans to remain at Berkeley after completing his Ph.D., and continue his role of a Research Scientist. Overall, however, Goodwin predicts that his day-to-day life will remain the same.

“My life won’t change much after I get the degree except that I won’t have to correct people when they call me ‘Dr. Goodwin’.”