Event
Virtual Paleontology Programs
Fee:
Free.Dates & Times
Date:
Time:
Duration:
Type of Event
Each presentation is 20 minutes long and will show at the top of each hour.
Description
Join four female paleontologists on a live video premiere and online Q&A Sunday, February 11 starting at 10 a.m. MST on YouTube. Each scientist will discuss their current research on fossilized mammals found in or near Agate Fossil Beds National Monument and Badlands National Park.
Listen to these women speak at the YouTube Premiere at https://www.youtube.com/@agatefossilbedsNPS. The videos are pre-recorded, twenty-minute presentations with captions, audio-description, and interpreted into ASL. Each video will show at the top of each hour starting at 10am MST. During each recording, the scientists will be present on the chat to answer your questions about their work.
Speaker Bios:
Daniella Balassa is a Paleontologist at PSOMAS, responsible for monitoring construction projects and handling CEQA documentation for her company. Daniella is currently completing her MA in Geology at California State University of Long Beach with a focus on North American Camelidae systematics. She also instructs Labs for University students and was recently the President and Community Outreach of the American Association of Petroleum Geologist Student Chapter club.
Mattison Shreero is a Park Ranger at Badlands National Park. Originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, Mattison earned her Bachelor's degrees in Geology and Studio Art from Carleton College, Minnesota. While working in the Badlands, Mattison has discovered a love of fossil mammals and has since authored an upcoming publication, presented research at geology conferences, and learned fossil excavation and preparation techniques. She now plans to pursue a Master's degree in Paleontology.
Sunshyne Santos is a graduate student at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. At the age of 15, she lost all vision in her right eye. She didn’t let that stop her and became the first generation in her family to go to college. She started her research at La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, and now studies comparisons between ancient and modern rhinoceros.
Kristin Watmore is a graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona in Southern California, studying vertebrate paleontology with Dr. Donald Prothero. She earned her B.S. in Biology from Cal Poly Pomona in 2022 before beginning her graduate work in the Geology department. She plans to defend her master’s thesis this Spring, which focuses on the systematics of an early group of pronghorns from the Miocene. Watmore has also collaborated on research relating to North American camelids, oreodonts, birds, and most recently, a whale. After completion of her thesis, Watmore hopes to continue research and graduate study in a PhD program. She is eager to share her current camelid research with the audience at Agate Fossil Beds and grateful to present alongside some other awesome women in science!
More information
Reservation or Registration: No
Image Gallery
Photos submitted by the paleontologists