National Fossil Day

Date: 

Thursday, October 22, 2020, 9:00am to 2:00pm

Location: 

Online

Spiral fossilize ammonite.

Special Event

Celebrate National Fossil Day—a celebration organized by the National Park Service—by taking a closer look at museum fossils with Harvard paleontologists. What can we see on ancient seafloors? How do modern animals help us understand extinct animals? What fossils still amaze scientists? What is it like to be a practicing paleontologist? Bring your curiosity and questions to this online event for all ages! 

To fully engage with the program, please register via Zoom below. Talks will also be livestreamed on YouTube but you can only ask the speaker questions on Zoom.

Program Schedule

9:00 am – 9:30 am: Graduate Student RJ Knecht and Curatorial Assistant Mark Renczkowski share trace fossils and show how fossils are prepared and preserved in the lab.

 

10:30 am – 11:00 am: Graduate Student Sarah Losso and Postdoctoral Fellow Steve Pates discuss soft and shelly invertebrate fossils, including trilobites.

 

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm: Curatorial Associate and Invertebrate Paleontology Collections Manager Jessica Cundiff shares some of her favorite fossils, including ancient reef fossils from the Guadalupe Mountains.

 

1:30 pm – 2:00 pm: Research Associate Katrina Jones and Postdoctoral Fellow Meg Whitney invite you to become a fossil detective and discover how ancient animals, including T-Rex, grew and moved.

 

To join the program, you will need to download the free Zoom app in advance. If you already have Zoom, you do not need to download it again. For details on how to improve your Zoom experience, visit the How to Attend an HMSC Program webpage.