Banner Artwork by C. McCall © Royal Ontario Museum
I am seeking students interested in body plan evolution, exceptional fossil preservation, and museum collections-focussed research. See listing below for open positions. Please get in touch to discuss opportunities.
Open positions:
1. MSc Project - The Small Carbonaceous Fossil record of the Ordovician of Manitoba
Additional details: This project will be fully funded by grants from the Manitoba Museum Foundation Legacy Fund and MITACS.
Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) have proven to be a key source of information about the early evolution of soft-bodied animals, complementing the macroscopic fossil record, and have yielded unique insights about groups otherwise absent from the fossil record. This project will contribute important new information about SCF diversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification, which has been the focus of relatively few prior studies.
The successful candidate will develop a protocol for extracting Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) from carbonate rocks of three significant Ordovician Lagerstätten in Manitoba (William Lake, Airport Cove, and Cat Head). The candidate will compare the diversity of the SCF assemblages using appropriate statistical techniques in the R programming environment and will learn geochemical methods to infer the palaeoenvironmental conditions that characterized each site. They will also have the opportunity to learn museum collections management and science communication skills at the Manitoba Museum.
Closing: post will be open until filled
Anticipated start dates: May or Sept. 2025, or Jan. 2026
Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) have proven to be a key source of information about the early evolution of soft-bodied animals, complementing the macroscopic fossil record, and have yielded unique insights about groups otherwise absent from the fossil record. This project will contribute important new information about SCF diversity during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification, which has been the focus of relatively few prior studies.
The successful candidate will develop a protocol for extracting Small Carbonaceous Fossils (SCFs) from carbonate rocks of three significant Ordovician Lagerstätten in Manitoba (William Lake, Airport Cove, and Cat Head). The candidate will compare the diversity of the SCF assemblages using appropriate statistical techniques in the R programming environment and will learn geochemical methods to infer the palaeoenvironmental conditions that characterized each site. They will also have the opportunity to learn museum collections management and science communication skills at the Manitoba Museum.
Closing: post will be open until filled
Anticipated start dates: May or Sept. 2025, or Jan. 2026
