Great Plains Dinosaur Museum to host Judith River Symposium June 28-30th

The chance to experience firsthand why Malta, Phillips County and Northeast Montana are so palynologically important will be one of the many themes at the Judith River Formation Symposium hosted by the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum (GPDM) starting Friday, June 28, featuring nearly 20 different speakers, and includes Friday night's 11th Annual Wine & Dino party.

"This is something that Dixie Stordahl has wanted to do for years, to host some kind of symposium," Cary Woodruff, Director of Paleontology at the GPDM said. "It was really her who got this going and we started planning (the event) last year."

Woodruff said Stordahl - a long-time educator, PCN Correspondent, and GPDM General Administrator- and he aren't sure if the symposium will become an annual event but added they would love to host more events as the years go on.

"This symposium is very specifically themed on the geologic formation right here, in Malta, where we find a lot of the dinosaurs, but maybe we do the same themes in the future, or maybe different themes."

The symposium kicks off with an optional half-day (maybe a ¾ day) field trip with the convoy leaving at 10 a.m. Tickets for this trip are $25 and space is limited. People who are interested need to RSVP with the GPDM which can be reached at 654-5300.

"We are going up to a ranch north of (Malta) and learning about the regional geology and paleontology," Woodruff said. "But you won't just be learning about the regional geology and paleontology, but you will also see where a lot of the specimens in the museum came from."

Friday night will see the 11th Annual Wine & Dino at the GPDM starting at 6 p.m. During that night, admission to the GPDM and the Phillips County Museum will be free, and the festivities will include astronomy talks, live music, auctions, barbeque from Ray J's and adult beverages to purchase from Liquor Haven and Blue Ridge Brewing. The Wine and Dino event gets underway at 6 p.m. and tickets are $10, $5 for children under 12. The night will also feature the unveiling of a brand-new exhibit at the GPDM.

"This is a new fossil that hasn't been on display at the museum before and it is specifically a fossil from the Judith River themed perfectly for this symposium."

The 2-day symposium gets underway on Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Malta City Hall and will run to about 4:30 each day. (A complete schedule of the speakers can be found on the GPDM website greatplainsdinosaurs.com or the online version of this story at phillipscountynews.com) Woodruff said the 19 featured speakers will be split up into two days' worth of lectures and will feature some top-flight paleontologists.

"We will literally have some of the top paleontologists in the world," he said. "Dr. Mary Schweitzer, Dr. Phil Currie, Dr. Jack Horner, Dr. David Evans ...so participants who come won't just be learning about active research from graduate students, but also learning from literally some of the biggest names in paleontology who are experts on the dinosaurs from the Judith River Formation."

Woodruff said that this type of gathering is a good place for academics to come and learn what each other are working on but added that the symposium will be a relaxed setting at which dinosaur novices will also be able to learn and understand the information being presented.

"These presenters are really great at taking all of this cool, neat scientific research and relating it to ways anyone can understand," he said. "We are really gearing for everyone to come out, learn and have a great time."

At the conclusion of the second day of speakers, the last hurrah will be held at Blue Ridge Brewing in Malta starting at 5 p.m. There is no cover charge for the event and microbrews brewed in Malta can be purchased at the event.

SPEAKER LINE UP:

Dr. Mary Schweitzer

Mary received her Ph.D. from Montana State University (Go 'Cats!) with Dr. Jack Horner, and is leading the sub-field of molecular paleontology. Mary's research was the first to determine the gender of a dinosaur by recognizing medullary tissue (a tissue found in female birds) in a female Tyrannosaurus from Montana, and her work was the first to show that original organic compounds like collagen can survive the fossilization process and persist for millions of years. Mary's work is revolutionizing the way the think of and study the processes of fossilization.

Dr. Jack Horner

Talk Title: Dinosaurs were way cooler than anyone has ever imagined! Jack received an honorary Ph.D. from the University of Montana, and holds several honorary degrees. In 1986 he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, and in 2013 Jack received the Romer-Simpson Medal by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Jack's vast research has been at the forefront of paleontological discoveries and revolutionizing the way the think of, view, and study dinosaurs. In 1979, Jack and Bob Makela described Maiasaura – consisting of eggs, young in nests, and adults all together, this was the critical discovery for understanding parental care in dinosaurs. Jack's research strives to better understand dinosaurs through several avenues of ontogenetic, histologic, and stratigraphic research. Jack also serves as the scientific consultant for the Jurassic Park franchise, and his favorite dinosaurs are sauropods.

Dr. Phil Currie

Phil received his Ph.D. from McGill University, and has received numerous professional accolades including: elected to the Royal Society of Canada (1999), awarded the Alberta Order of Excellence (2010), gold medal winner by the Canadian Geographical Society (2012), and the Romer-Simpson Medal by the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (2017). Phil is a leading expert in theropod dinosaurs, and has scoured the Canadian, Mongolian, and Argentinian (just to name a few!) badlands on the hunt for these carnivorous dinosaurs. Phil was a pivotal member of what would become the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. In 2015, Phil's vast achievements to Canadian paleontology resulted in a museum being named in his honor – the Phillip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum.

Dr. Eva Koppelhus

Eva is Assistant Professor and Curator of Paleobotany and Palynology at The University of Alberta. Eva's interest in paleobotany (the study of fossil plants) and palynology (the study of fossilized spores and pollen) goes way back into the Cretaceous Period (135 to 64 million years ago). Many of her research projects have taken place in Argentina, Australia, China, Europe, Indonesia, Japan, Madagascar, Mongolia, New Zealand, South Korea, South Africa, and the U.S.

Dr. David Evans

Talk Title: The Raptor Dinosaurs of Montana. David received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and he is the Temerty Chair in Vertebrate Palaeontology and oversees dinosaur research at the Royal Ontario Museum. David is is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto. David's research focuses on the evolution, ecology and diversity of dinosaurs, and their relationship to environmental changes leading up to the end Cretaceous mass extinction event. Active in the field, he has participated in expeditions all over the world, including the Africa, Mongolia, and Canada, and has helped discover 10 new dinosaur species in the last five years- including the remarkable horned dinosaur Wendiceratops from southern Alberta, and the wickedly armoured Zuul named after the Ghostbusters movie monster.

Dr. Don Brinkman

Talk Title: Non-marine teleost fish assemblages from the Late Cretaceous of the Western Interior of North America – evidence from vertebrate microfossil localities. Don studies how ancient animals, and turtles in particular, lived in their environments during the time of the dinosaurs. By comparing turtle specimens from Asia and North America, he investigates why some species lived where they did, what unique traits helped them to survive, and how environmental conditions affected them. This research allows Don to determine the conditions of life during specific periods of history, and why some species survived catastrophic events, while others did not.

Dr. Ray Rogers

Ray received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, and is a preeminent expert on sedimentary geology and vertebrate taphonomy (Ray literally wrote the book on this subject, entitle "Bonebeds: Genesis, Analysis, and Paleobiological Significance"). Ray's work on rocks and dinosaurs (and dinosaur precursors) has taken him from the Cretaceous foreland basin of Montana, the Triassic Ischigualasto Basin of Argentina, the Triassic-Jurassic Karoo-equivalent rocks of southern Zimbabwe, and the Mahajanga Basin of Madagascar.

Dr. Thomas Carr

Talk Title: Campanian tyrannosaurids of Alberta and Montana. Thomas received his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, and is a preeminent expert on tyrannosaurs. Studying their growth and development, Thomas strives to shed light on the intimate life history of the "Tyrant Kings". Thomas' research on tyrannosaur growth is persistently at the forefront of active scientific debate. Understanding how the bones changed shaped through growth in the famed Tyrannosaurus, Thomas has shown that the previously recognized 'Nannotyrannus' is in fact just an immature Tyrannosaurus (though this is still hotly debated). In addition to tyrannosaurs, Thomas also researches archosaur craniofacial anatomy, the integration of ontogenic and phylogenetic data in paleontology, and sauropod ontogeny (I kid you not!).

Dr. Liz Freedman Fowler

Talk Title: My Crest is Bigger Than Yours: Evolution of Display Structures in Brachylophosaurins (Duck-billed Dinosaurs). Liz received her Ph.D. from Montana State University (Go 'Cats!) with Dr. Jack Horner, and her research focuses on the evolution and ontogenetic growth of hadrosaur (duck-billed) dinosaurs in the Late Cretaceous of North America. Liz was a previous Director of Paleontology at the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum as well as the Executive Director of the St. George Dinosaur Discovery Site in southern Utah. Currently she is an Assistant Professor of Biology at Dickinson State University and an Associate Researcher at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum in Dickinson, North Dakota. Liz will be presenting on one of the new species of dinosaurs named in her dissertation with Jack Horner: Probrachylophosaurus bergei, an ancestor of the Brachylophosaurus specimens that fill the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum.

Dr. Denver Fowler

Talk Title: "Dannyceratops" from Rudyard, Montana, and its significance for Chasmosaurines: evolution of long frilled horned dinosaurs during the Judithian (and beyond!) Denver received his Ph.D. from Montana State University (Go 'Cats!) with Dr. Jack Horner, and his research largely focuses on how dinosaurs lived. Ranging from how "raptor" dinosaurs used their sickle-like claws to pin down prey, the biggest dinosaur in North America, sauropod ontogeny and how they used their feet for nest building, Triceratops ontogeny and how it evolved throughout the Hell Creek Formation, to even how a Tyrannosaurus ate a Triceratops, Denver's areas of research and expertise span a variety of fascinating topics. Denver is the Curator at the Badlands Dinosaur Museum at the Dickinson Museum Center in Dickinson, ND – in addition to many new displays, the Badlands Dinosaur Museum is doing tons of amazing Montana fieldwork, so go check out their great discoveries!

Dr. Mark Loewen

Mark received his Ph.D. from the University of Utah, and he specializes in Jurassic and Cretaceous dinosaurs with an emphasis on the taxonomy, evolution and biogeography of meat eating, armored, and horned dinosaurs. Mark has named over eight dinosaurs including Lythronax, Kosmoceratops, Utahceratops and Seitaad. Currently, Mark is an Associate Professor Lecturer in Geology and Geophysics at the University of Utah, a Resident Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Dr. Emily Bamforth

Talk Title: Going North: Using Large-scale Spatial Diversity Patterns to Elucidate Judith River Formation Equivalents in Canada. Emily received her Ph.D. at McGill University, and is a vertebrate paleontologist with the Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM), working out of the RSM's T. rex Discovery Centre in Eastend, Saskatchewan, Canada. Emily's research primarily focuses on Cretaceous palaeoecology, involving the study of plant and animals fossils, geology and sedimentology in order to understand ancient ecosystems. In 2008, she began her PhD at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Hans Larsson, exploring pre-extinction biodiversity trends immediately prior to the K-Pg extinction in Saskatchewan. Emily has published several papers and numerous conference abstracts of Ediacaran and Cretaceous paleontology. She was a recipient of an NSERC CGS-D Scholarship, as well as a two-time winner of the Geological Association of Canada – Paleontology Division's Thomas E. Bolton Best Student Paper award. She enjoys public outreach, teaching and fieldwork, often with the help of her dog, Aster.

Dr. Jordan Mallon

Talk Title: The first Canadian dinosaur finds. Jordan received his Ph.D. from the University of Calgary, and is a Research Scientist and Head of Palaeobiology at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Canada. His studies focus on dinosaur systematics and palaeoecology, although he is known to occasionally work on other Mesozoic reptiles as well. Jordan studies dinosaur feeding adaptations, community ecology and geographic distribution. By carefully examining feeding posture, skull and beak shape, jaw function and tooth wear, he has shown that diverse plant-eating dinosaurs living in Alberta 75 million years ago were able to coexist as a result of their varied dietary specializations. Jordan is also interested in horned dinosaurs, which were among the most successful animals of their time. He investigates their lifestyles, growth, and evolution to determine what allowed them to thrive during the Late Cretaceous Period. Jordan recently published on a showy new horned-dinosaur species from Montana named Spiclypeus.

Taia Wyenberg-Henzler

Talk Title: Ontogenetic niche shifts in megaherbivorous dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous of North America. Taia is currently an M.Sc. student with Dr. Jordan Mallon jointly at Carleton University and the Canadian Museum of Nature. For her thesis, Taia is researching ontogenetic niche shifts in large herbivorous dinosaurs. Additionally, Taia has worked on the stratigraphy, biostratigraphy and X-ray fluorescence analysis of mudstone and heterolithic facies in the Dinosaur Park Formation, from Dinosaur Provincial Park in Alberta, the paleoecology from trilobite heads in the Lower Cambrian of Fort Steele, British Columbia, and the stratigraphy and ichnology of coastal plain heterolithic and mudstone facies of the Cambrian Dinosaur Park to Bearpaw transgression of Southern Alberta.

Anthony Maltese

Talk Title: Preparation and restoration methods of ceratopsian skulls from Fergus County, Montana

Working with sauropod dinosaurs from the Black Hills region of Wyoming, Anthony started his career in 1997 in "The Pit" at the University of Kansas. Since then he's conducted field work in Mexico, Portugal, The Netherlands, and South Korea as well as all over the western United States while working for the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center/Triebold Paleontology Inc. in Woodland Park, Colorado. Focusing intensely on the Niobrara Chalk of Kansas, Hell Creek Formation of South Dakota and Judith River Formation of Montana, he's assisted with researchers worldwide in recovering new specimens of animals. This field season will be his 14th summer in the Judith River Formation. Anthony has participated in naming 4 species of fish (Bonnerichthys gladius and all 3 species of Rhinconichthys), engaged in lively presentations on fossil ethics and legality at SVP and EAVP, and has led SVP workshops on field safety. In his free time he volunteers on the board of directors of several outdoor organizations and city commissions for Open Space management, is a certified outdoor crew leader, and most importantly spoils his golden retriever Annabelle (named after a Camarasaurus, KUVP 129716).

David Trexler

Talk Title: Taphonomy of an Unusual Multiple-Individual Ceratopsian Bonebed in the Lower Judith River Formation, North-Central Montana. Dave Trexler received his M.Sc. degree from the University of Calgary where he studied the famed Montana hadrosaur Maiasaura. He and his family have been heavily involved in dinosaur nesting behavior research (Dave's mother found the very first baby dinosaurs in a nest – a discovery that would become the famed Egg Mountain locality). Since 1995, Dave has worked with the Two Medicine Dinosaur Center in Bynum, Montana. Dave's love of dinosaurs is matched only by his love of flying, and he has spent many hours mapping possible dinosaur-bearing outcrops from the air!

Savhannah Carpenter

Savhannah is a paleontologist at the University of Utah, where she does research under Dr. Mark Loewen, focusing on ceratopsian dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period of Southern Utah. She is currently a paleontology collections intern at the Natural History Museum of Utah and an undergraduate assistant for Dr. Loewen's introductory paleontology course, World of Dinosaurs. Savhannah has both field and academic experience in paleontology, and is currently completing a Bachelor's Degree of Geology at the University of Utah.

Christian Heck

An arm and a leg: Using bone microstructure to infer intraskeletal growth and locomotor strategy in the Two Medicine hadrosaur dinosaur Maiasaura peeblosorum. Christian is currently earning a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences at Oklahoma State University-Center for Health Sciences under the advisement of Dr. Holly Woodward Ballard. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Michigan State University in 2008 and a Bachelor of Sciences in Ecology from Montana State University (Go 'Cats!) in 2014. While at Montana State University he worked extensively in the MOR paleontology lab and histology lab under the advisement of Dr. Jack Horner. He is currently investigating bone growth response to various stress and biomechanical shifts in modern taxa and non-avian dinosaurs. Following in the footsteps of Dr. Horner and Dr. Ballard, he is focusing his investigations on intraskeletal bone growth in the hadrosaurid dinosar Maiasaura.

Thomas Dudgeon

Talk Title: The endosseous labyrinth of Champsosaurus (Diapsida: Choristodera): Insights into phylogeny and ecology. Tom is pursuing his M.Sc. at Carleton University with Dr. Jordan Mallon, and his thesis is focused on the extinct reptile Champsosaurus. Specifically, Tom is studying the anatomy of their skulls for clues about their behaviour and ecology. Tom loves all things palao, but he is especially interested in discerning what an extinct animal's anatomy indicates about how they behaved and interacted with the environment when they were alive.