Ann Molineux

Ann Molineux
Curator/Collections Manager
Ann Molineux passed away February, 2018. She worked tirelessly to promote and preserve the amazing collections we have here in Austin, and was a mentor and friend to so many of us here and around the globe. She will be deeply missed by those within the scientific community, and the many organizations in which she was actively involved.
After completing her Ph.D. in the Department of Geological Sciences at UT Austin, it seemed that no occupation could be quite as challenging or exciting as hunting for calcified demosponges (sclerosponges) in the Caribbean. She was mistaken.  Fascinated by the wealth of fossil material in the collections, she was infected by a strong desire to develop some way to make the collections more accessible to everyone else. This involved making them accessible both for research, exhibit, and education. Her own paleontological research interests involved relationships between organisms and what can be learned from their patterns of growth, especially within reef environments. She was particularly interested in sponges and rudist bivalves. This research involved fieldwork and study of specimens already in the collections.

At the request of her family, the Jackson School has created a fund for students at all levels to work at the NPL collections at UT Austin.
The official title of the fellowship is: The Ann Molineux Excellence Fund for Student Research and Curation at the NPL collections, UT Austin. The fund is for undergrad through postdoc positions.

All donations, whatever size, are deeply appreciated. Please send donations to:
Sharon Mosher, Dean
Jackson School of Geosciences
2305 Speedway Stop C1160
Austin, TX 78712-1692

Please be sure to include “Ann Molineux Excellence Fund” in the memo.