Jurassic Dinosaurs of Colorado: Conserving and Preserving our 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 two interns to work in the Earth Sciences preparation laboratories at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS), where they will learn to clean, stabilize and rehouse fossils of Colorado, with emphasis on at-risk dinosaur specimens from a historic Jurassic (145 million year old) locality in Comanche National Grasslands in Las Animas County and from a comparable locality in Garden Park, Fremont County. 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 other 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 these internships is to rehabilitate and rehouse a key deep-time archive of Colorado history by using modern conservation materials and approaches to stabilize a suite of significant dinosaur specimens in perpetuity. These fossils, collected from the iconic Morrison Formation, are some of the most-sought-after fossils by researchers and visitors to the museum, so impacts of intern efforts will extend beyond Colorado. The professional development goal of these internships is to make sure that these students gain insights into and are prepared for potential careers in natural resources, whether that be in resource management, conservation, or outreach.
With which stakeholder group(s) will the intern work?
The interns will work with DMNS staff, community volunteers, USFS 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 dynamic laboratory setting, handling delicate specimens, appropriate use of laboratory materials and equipment, collaborating with a variety of colleagues (both internally at DMNS and externally through community partners and CSU), interacting 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.
