 |
| Mike Everhart |
Michael Everhart is the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hayes, Kansas. He also maintains the Oceans of Kansas web site. Recently, he graciously agreed to answer a few questions.
1. How did you become/what made you decide to become a paleontologist? Any words of advice to those who might want to pursue such a career?
Being a paleontologist is actually my third career. I worked in the environmental area of public health (12 years) and the aerospace industry (17 years) before becoming a paleontologist. That said, I've always been interested in paleontology and have been collecting fossils from the Smoky Hill Chalk for more than 40 years.
It is a subject that I've been fascinated with from at least the 5th grade when I read a book by Roy Chapman Andrews called "All About Dinosaurs." Actually, the book wasn't all about dinosaurs. There were two chapters describing the marine creatures from western Kansas, mosasaurs, plesiosaurs and pterosaurs. Somehow that stayed with me until I was able to make a trip "out west" during my senior year in college, and I was hooked.
 |
| Author hard at work. |
The best advice I can give to anyone wanting to become a paleontologist is to study hard in school, especially in the sciences and mathematics. Do well in English because you will need to read and write scientific papers. Paleontology isn't just about going to exotic places and digging up bones. It involves knowing about what you are collecting and being able to describe it to others.
There are two general paths to becoming a paleontologist: geology and biology. You should plan to get either a geology or a biology degree as an undergraduate in college. From there, you can specialize in to different fields of paleontology in graduate school. But on either path, you need to get as much educat
0 Comments on Paleontologist Interview: Mike Everhart as of 1/1/1900
Add a Comment