Mapping Fossils and Rocks of Colorado: Viewing Large Environmental Changes through Deep-Time Natural Resources
Primary Topic:
Natural Resources and Sustainability
Other Topics:
No additional topic areas, only my selection from previous question
Internship Overview:
We seek one intern to work in the Earth Sciences department at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), where they will learn to work with fossil databases, geologic maps, geographic maps, and geographic information software to create maps comparing fossil occurrences with environmental data from up to five key moments in Colorado’s evolutionary history (the Late Devonian, Pennsylvanian, Jurassic, Cretaceous and Eocene periods). Their work is part of our team’s “paleomapping” project, that seeks to understand the deep-time evolution of our region, and the impact that organisms have on nature. As with the other interns at the museum, they will also spend a portion of their time doing professional development and learning, which at the DMNS often includes participating in informal science education opportunities, doing some collections and field work that contribute toward research, learning how to work in our scientific labs, connecting with field agents to learn more about connections between deep-time work and modern soils and agriculture, networking with other students, and/or engaging with the new CSU Spur campus.
Goals, Scope and Objectives:
The content goal of this internship is to analyze how Colorado’s environments changed in deep-time, as viewed through changing distributions of fossils through five key moments in our history, with a goal of conveying this information to public and scientific communities in Colorado and beyond. The professional development goal of this internship is to make sure that the intern gains insights into and is prepared for a potential career in natural resources, whether that be in resource management, interpretation, conservation or outreach.
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
The intern will work with DMNS staff, community volunteers, and CSU Extension partners for this project, while also periodically interacting with the public as part of their informal education professional development training.
What student learning outcomes do you anticipate and what are the opportunities for professional development?
Key learning outcomes include learning to work in a collaborative scientific setting with other interns, postdocs and staff, as well as learning to interact with diverse public audiences, and being exposed to a variety of informal education and nonprofit vocational pathways centered on connections between the public and nature and science.
