Curation and Conservation of Columbia University Fossil Invertebrate Collection at the AMNH, Summer 2024 (A Pilot Project)

Columbia University Collection - Curation and Conservation - 2024

Week 1

Hi, my name is Makena Hatch! I am a third-year student at Colorado College studying Geology and concentrating my studies in Organismal Biology and Ecology. In doing so, I am hoping to gain an understanding not only of deep time, but also of ecological and human time. My interests lie at the intersection of marine science and geoscience, making the opportunity to conserve and curate fossil marine invertebrates for AMNH a perfect fit for me! (Pictures are of my love for rocks through the years...)

Hi! I'm Corra Lewis. I'm a rising sophomore at Colorado College majoring in geology. When I was little, I spent so much time wandering around museums and reading every plaque until my mom would have to drag me out. I am so excited to get the opportunity to work at the American Museum of Natural History and am glad to be helping with the Columbia University Collection.

Hello, my name is Elizabeth, I am from Birmingham, Alabama about to be a sophomore at Colorado College majoring in geology. I'm so excited to be working in the Invertebrate Paleontology department as I love admiring fossils! Already in my first week I've learned so much from everyone we've been able to talk to, from tours to presentations, in the Invertebrate and Vertebrate departments.

  

Hi, I'm Mac Schwartz. I'm a rising sophomore at Colorado College. I'm undecided for my major right now but I'm leaning towards biology. I also have an interest in fossils and the natural world so I am very excited to have the opportunity to work at the American Museum of Natural History.

This week we started our internship helping to curate a subset of the Columbia University marine invertebrate fossil collection that AMNH officially acquired in 2022! We began by taking on an assembly line-type workflow to clean, label, rehouse, photograph, and catalog the specimens. We spent a lot of time orienting and getting into the groove of things within the invertebrate paleontology division of AMNH.

 

 

 

We have been spending our lunch breaks exploring what the museum  has to offer! We have seen dinosaurs and other large vertebrate fossils, rocks and minerals, ocean creatures, and even got to go into the butterfly vivarium.

On Tuesday, Melanie Hopkins taught us and a cohort of MAT students about taxonomy in preparation for the work both groups will be doing! We have been making an effort to network and have met some incredible people.

Another opportunity we have as interns at AMNH is that we take tours of different departments! This past Wednesday, we toured the vertebrate paleontology division. Carl Mehling showed us the rows and rows of HUGE dinosaur fossils, it was such an amazing opportunity and we had lots of fun.