UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS “
My goal is to contribute something positive and I believe with my supporting interests in chemistry and computers, and my passion to make a difference, that I can build a skill set that will allow me to reach my goals.
chemistry and computers, and my passion to make a difference, that I can build a skill set that will allow me to reach my goals.
About the Essayist
Adym is a senior graduating with a bachelor’s in geology and a certificate in GIS from Southern Utah University in
Brynn Wooten, SA-10591 Fort Hayes State University- Kansas Section
I’ve always liked playing in the dirt. I was a kid who spent as much time as pos- sible outside – looking at plants and bugs, picking up rocks, watching squirrels and snails, going hiking and spelunking, or just sitting on my swing and invent- ing stories. Even after I started school, when I got home each day I would walk
in the front door, set down my backpack, and walk straight out the back door into my natural habitat – the backyard. I was an outdoors girl. I looked forward to camping and road trips and museums as much as I looked forward to Christmas and Halloween. I loved going to the School of Mines Geology Museum and visiting the Coors Gems & Minerals Hall at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS). And I started collecting rocks early – not just the rocks I found, but also little treasures I bought at the big gem & mineral shows every September in Denver. I just really liked rocks.
Then one time in 5th grade, I visited the DMNS Prehistoric Journey paleontology hall – a hall I’d been in many times before – but this time, when I looked at the “Explosion of Life” Cambrian display, something clicked…. I suddenly under- stood the concept of rapid evolutionary change and how the fossil record stores the remarkable history of life for future reference. Soon afterwards, I joined the Western Interior Paleontological Society (WIPS) and started attending meet- ings. During one WIPS meeting (in 6th grade), I was thrilled when they announced a trip to Pueblo to dig for baculite fossils. That spring, my dad drove me down to Pueblo for my first fossil-hunting expedition, and I was hooked! The fossils I found that day are far from impressive, but they are a treasure to me – because they mark the day I knew I wanted to be a paleontologist. Since then I’ve honed my interests to studying how life fills niches vacated during mass extinction events. I believe research into these questions will be my life’s work.
I hope to spend my life working in a combination of related fields – including teaching in academia, working in museums, and conducting research & field work. I’ve been preparing for a career in paleontology since middle school. I started volunteer- ing at museums at age 12 to gain education, collections, and research experience. And at age 15, I applied for a Teen Science Scholar research intern position in the Denver Museum’s Earth Sciences Department. In my application essay, I said I was interested in convergent evolution and how life fills eco- logical niches. At the time I wrote the essay, I didn’t realize my interests were directly in line with a project two museum
www.aipg.org
Cedar City, Utah. He loves how chemistry relates to geology and appreciates how rocks can tell a story of tectonic events. His ultimate goal is to help improve the quality of life we appreciate and improve the way we use natural resources at the same time.
paleontologists had recently begun. Although I was only 15 years old when I applied, my interests made me a really good fit, and I got the job. I spent two summers working with Dr. Ian Miller and Dr. Tyler Lyson, who were studying the time immediately after the K-Pg mass extinction event. We were looking for evidence of how life survived the extinction and then diversified during the recovery – a period which had not been well-studied because the fossil record from that time was scarce. But Dr. Lyson decided to look for fossils in concretions, in addition to traditional prospecting methods – and that was the ticket! Our field work that first year (2017) was conducted at the Corral Bluffs site near Colorado Springs. I was then invited to return for a second summer (2018), as both an intern and in a leadership role.
The discoveries from Corral Bluffs (now known simply as “Colorado Springs Project”) will rewrite paleontology text- books. The discoveries (
coloradosprings.dmns.org) recently made national news after Lyson, Miller, and others published their paper “Exceptional Continental Record of Biotic Recovery after the Cretaceous-Paleogene Mass Extinction” (Science, 10/24/2019) and a NOVA program about the Corral Bluffs site (“Rise of the Mammals”) was released on October 30, 2019. I am extremely proud to have been a small part of the Corral Bluffs expeditions. It was a great experience which I will never forget – including falling into cactus multiple times, ripping the seat of my pants and duct-taping them back together, and out- running an impending flash flood while carrying a 750 pound jacketed crocodile fossil out of a dry river bed! I wouldn’t trade those adventures for anything, and I truly hope I can be part of another such expedition at some point in my geology career. I still really like rocks… I guess now I just prefer rocks that used to be animals. And as my high school yearbook picture said, I’m “still playing in the dirt!”
About the Essayist
Brynn Wooten is studying Geology, Zoology, and Museum Studies at Fort Hays State University, to prepare for graduate studies in Paleontology. She also works in the fossil prepara- tion lab at the Sternberg Museum and sings soprano in the university’s Concert Choir.
Jul.Aug.Sep 2020 • TPG 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64
