Re: colleges

["Allan Edels" <Edels@email.msn.com>]

Caleb, etc:

    Regarding how to become a paleontologist - There are 2 paths - the first
is to get your undergrad degree in Biology, then your grad work in Geology;
the second is to get your undergrad degree in Geology, then your grad work
in Biology.  As far as I understand, there are not many places that give
doctorates in Paleontology.  Someone may have given you the short list of
those places by the time you see this.  Otherwise, you should look for
schools with Bio- & Geo- AND with a paleontologist you can work under.  For
instance, University of Pennsylvania (here in Phila.) has Dr. Peter Dodson,
who teaches Veternary Medicine.  [Peter is approachable, friendly,
informative, and, the discoverer (namer) of _Avaceratops_ and an expert on
ceratopsians.]   University of Montana at Bozeman has field work under Jack
Horner.  Tom Holtz is at the University of Maryland, etc., etc.

   As a native Philadelphian, here are some reasons to come here:
    Someone who is (usually) on the list, and is at Penn working on his
graduate degree is Joshua Smith (forgive me if I've stated your
position/level incorrectly, Josh).  Josh is in the Department of Earth and
Environmental Science.

    Other advantages: Philadelphia has the Academy of Natural Sciences
(ANSP) with mounts of _T. rex_, _Giganotosaurus_, and several others.  We
also have the Wagner Free Institute (which has some dinosaur [sauropod]
bones - as mounted by E. D. Cope) - which is a museum of a museum - it
hasn't changed much since it was built in 1865 (except for electricity and
running water)  and most of the displays haven't changed since 1880-1890.
There's lots of other good reasons, but check it for yourself.

        Allan Edels

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeffrey Martz <jeffmartz@earthlink.net>
To: 'dinosaur@usc.edu' <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Date: Sunday, February 14, 1999 6:04 PM
Subject: FW: colleges





Caleb,

      If you asre interested in studying dinosaurs or other Mesozoic
reptiles, in the United States,you might check out:

1. South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City http://www.sdsmt.edu
      Cretaceous dinosaurs and marine reptiles; however, like in a lot of
places, these may be largely phased out before to long.  Gordon Bell, the
big mosasaur expert down there, may be leaving this fall, and the other two
profs who dabble in Mesozoic reptiles are mostly interested in mammals.

2. Southern Methodist University in Houston
      A lot of stuff here.

3. Texas Tech University in Lubbock http://www.texastech.edu
      Mostly Triassic stuff, such as thecodonts, although if you work with
Thomas Lehman you may get to work in the Late Cretaceous.

4. Montana State University in Bozeman http://www.montana.edu
      Horner is adjunct faculty here, and you would be working at the Museum
of the Rockies through the geology department here.  The financial situation
for graduate students is apparently a little bleak.

5. University of Chicago
      Sereno is here.  Oliver Rieppel, who works with basal sauropterygians
and other marine reptiles, is also part of the adjunct faculty.

6. Berkely
      Apparently not a whole lot is going on there nowadays, although you
might check it out.

     You will have to dig up the web pages for Southern Methodist, Chicago,
and Berkely yourself.  Check out the web pages, do a little research,
contact professors.  Feel comfortble sending e-mail directly to anybody if
you have questions or want to know something about what opportunities are
availible for graduate students; just make sure that you do some digging
yourself before you ask questions, so you don't waste thier time asking
about stuff you can find out easily in other ways.  Now is a good a time as
any to start making contacts.

Jeff Martz