People

Dr. Pat Druckenmiller

Curator of Earth Science
Associate Professor of Geology, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks

Curriculum Vitae (pdf)

psdruckenmiller@alaska.edu
Office: (907) 474-6954

Pat Druckenmiller is a vertebrate paleontologist with a research emphasis on Mesozoic marine reptiles (particularly plesiosaurs and ichthyosaurs) and dinosaurs of Alaska. He became the Earth Sciences Curator in 2007 after moving up from Montana. Pat has conducted paleontological fieldwork across much of the western US and Canada and has active field sites across Alaska, including the southeastern panhandle, the Alaska Peninsula, the North Slope, and several locations in between.

 

 

Graduate students

 

Benjamin J. Cragun

bjcragun@alaska.edu

Collection Manager

Lab: (907) 474-7862

B.S. Zoology, Chemistry Minor, Weber State University, 2021

Bio: Ben Cragun is a Biological Sciences graduate student with a research focus on anciently preserved biomolecules in Quaternary mammals. As the Collection Manager for Earth Sciences, he catalogs, databases, and handles fossil material of many different animals from Alaska's deep past, including dinosaurs. Outside of study and the lab, he enjoys writing fiction, reading comic books, playing board games, and picking away on his banjo.

 

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Undergraduate students and volunteers

Daniela Barrera Guevara

dbarreraguevara@alaska.edu

B.S. student, Geosciences
Concentration in Paletontology

Volunteer

Bio: Dani Barrera is a research associate, scientific illustrator and student at University of Alaska's Museum of the North. Their research focuses on horned dinosaur and tyrannosaur evolution; how and why they changed through time. They enjoy getting creative and making art in their free time.

 

 

Caden Wyman

cawyman@alaska.edu

B.S. student, Geosciences and Biology

Volunteer

Bio: Caden Wyman is a reseach associate, and a student at University of Alaska Fairbanks. His research primarily focuses on dinosaurs of the arctic, including Alaska's own ceratopsians, Pachyrhinosaurus. Outside of the lab he teaches a STEM course at a local school and enjoys building Legos.

 

 

 

 

Thomas Sniezak
B.S. student, Geosciences and Biology
Volunteer

 

 

Past staff and graduate students

 

Lauren Wilson
lauren.wilson@princeton.edu

 

Zack Perry

 

Danielle Serratos

B.S. Texas A&M University Corpus Christi, 2011
M.S. Geology

Thesis: Description, Taphonomy, and Geology of an elasmosaur (Reptilia: Plesiosauroidea) from the Bearpaw Shale, Montana.

 

Julie Rousseau

Collection Manager, April 2012 - April 2015

Julie has been involved in paleontology fieldwork since her undergraduate years. She slowly made her way up North, from southern Canada to arctic Norway, before joining the Museum of the North in April 2012.

Research Interests
Mesozoic echinoderms, high-latitude paleontology, taphonomy, biogeography.

Education
B.S. Biology Major, Anthropology Minor, McGill University, 2008.
M.S. Paleontology, University of Oslo, 2011.
Thesis: A Late Jurassic Boreal echinoderm Lagerst\xe4tte from Janusfjellet, central Spitsbergen, Arctic Norway.

Publications
Rousseau, Julie and Nakrem, Hans Arne. 2012. An Upper Jurassic Boreal echinoderm Lagerst\xe4tte from Janusfjellet, central Spitsbergen. Norwegian Journal of Geology 92: 133-161. Find article.

 

Hirotsugu Mori
hmori@alaska.edu

Ph.D., Geology
Dissertation defense March 6, 2014.

Thesis: Osteology, Relationships and Paleoecology of a new Arctic Hadrosaurid (Dinosauria: Ornithopoda) from the Prince Creek Formation of Northern Alaska.

Kevin P. Stack
M.S. Geology, 2012
Thesis title: Taphonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the Talkeetna Mountains hadrosaur.

Past students and volunteers

 

Heather MacFarlane
B.A. linguistics, May 2015, Reed College.
Summer 2015, Summer 2016 Curatorial Intern

 

Eliza Rorabaugh
B.A. Geosciences and Art History, Williams College, MA, 2016.
Summer 2015, Summer 2016 Curatorial Intern

Meghan Shay
B.S. student, Geosciences: Paleontology Option
Student employee (databasing)

Lydia Johnson
B.S. Environmental Studies, University of Oregon
Employee (databasing and fossil prep)

Bobby Ebelhar
B.S. student, Geosciences
Student employee (databasing) and volunteer (fossil preparation)

Larry Pallozzi
B.A. Anthropology, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Employee (fossil prep)

Jacob Van Veldhuizen
B.S. Geology, UAF, 2009.
M.S. Vertebrate Paleontology, Texas Tech University, 2013.
Volunteer (fossil preparation)

Michelle Sutton
B.S. student, Wildlife Biology
Student employee (databasing)

Nicole Warner
B.S. student
Volunteer (fossil preparation)

Erica Blake
B.S. Geology, 2012
Undergraduate research project (Spring 2012): Mapping Pleistocene fossil vertebrate in the CRREL Permafrost Tunnel in Fox, Alaska.

Emma Boone
B.S. Biology
Museum Research Apprenticeship (MRAP)
Volunteer (Field work and fossil preparation)

Alex Edgar
B.S. Geology, 2013
Brina Kessel Excellence in Science Award 2013
Research Experience for Undergraduate (NSF-REU) intern
Undergraduate Research project (Fall 2012): Photo Atlas of Dinosaur Tracks from the Nanushuk Formation.
Student employee (fossil preparation)

Hannah Foss
B.F.A. Computer Arts, 2013
2012-2013 Helen Walker Memorial Fund and Patricia A. Davis Memorial Scholarship
Student employee (databasing, paleontological art)

Emily Jones
B.S. student, Geology
Volunteer (fossil preparation)

Sara Klingensmith
B.S. Biology, 2013
Volunteer (fossil preparation)

Meg O'Connor
B.S. student, Geosciences, Williams College, MA
Summer intern, 2013

Rebecca Parrish
B.S. Geology, 2013
UAF Outstanding Graduate Award, Geology 2013
Student employee (databasing)

John Scott
B.S. Biology and Geology, 2012
Undergraduate research project (Spring 2012): Microfossil extraction techniques and micropaleoecology of the CREEL permafrost tunnel in Fox, Alaska.