Beyond the Basics: Bridging The Gap

Updates- April 27, 2022

All talks are now live. We have heard from a few people that the email from BeyondtheBasicsPaleo@gmail.com with the link to talks was sent to their spam folders, so please check there if you haven’t received it yet, and contact us if it hasn’t arrived.

We hope you find this content interesting and informative as you watch it over the next few days, and we look forward to lively discussion during our live event on Saturday, featuring a live keynote address from Dr. William Sanders, of the University of Michigan. 

Schedule of Live Events

Saturday, April 30th

12pm-1pm EDT   Welcome, Introduction, Keynote
1pm- 1:15pm EDT  Break
1:15pm- 2:15 EDT  Panel Discussion between all speakers
2:15pm- 2:30 EDT  Break
2:30pm- 4:00pm     Q&A from attendees to all speakers

A link to the Zoom webinar will be sent from this email address on Thursday, so keep an eye out. 

Be sure to remember questions for the Q&A session, and we’ll see you then!

Updates- April 25, 2022

Talks for Session One are live as of 9am Eastern and will be available through April 30th. All registrants should have received a link to the prerecorded talks from BeyondtheBasicsPaleo@gmail.com. If you have not, please check your spam folder, and contact the organizers via email at BeyondtheBasicsPaleo@gmail.com. 

An additional three talks each will be available to watch for Sessions Two and Three, starting Tuesday and Wednesday. 

We hope you find this series useful, and please feel free to share registration details with anyone you think might benefit, a reminder that registration closes by the end of day Tuesday, and you will receive an email invitation to the Zoom webinar link on Thursday, April 28th. You will need a free Zoom account to participate in the live events, so if you don’t have one yet sign up now. Zoom is free, but does require an account as a security feature.

Updates- April 5, 2022

Registration is now open for the symposium Beyond the Basics: Bridging the Gap! Registration is free for this event, but attendees must register by April 26th via Google forms at this link. Registrants will receive a Zoom Webinar link on Thursday April 28th. Questions can be addressed to BeyondtheBasicsPaleo@gmail.com. 

This virtual symposium series is organized as discussion between members of the fossil preparation and collection community to examine pressing issues in the field. The topic of this symposium will be the gap in professional development between early-career and more senior fossil preparators in the professional arena. 

The discussion will build upon the “Back to Basics” symposium presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology (AMMP). Individual topics for talks at this symposium were generated from the collaborative document – created with support from the Hix Preparator’s Grant awarded by the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) – entitled Defining the Professional Vertebrate Fossil Preparator: Essential Competencies. 

Schedule of Events

Pre-recorded talks will remain online for viewing through the end of the month. Live events will kick off on Saturday, April 30th featuring a keynote presentation by Dr. William Sanders, followed by talk Q&As and a moderated Roundtable Discussion among the speakers. Live events will be hosted via Zoom, all participation will be free of charge, but preregistration will be required. More details, including registration links, will follow in future circulars. 

Session One: Preparation as a discipline: What is a Preparator?

In this session three speakers present perspectives on what a preparator is, how they think of themselves and how to classify practitioners. Our three presenters will explore fossil preparation from their own personal journey and perspectives.

Prepcraft: The Way of the Preparator

Alan Zdinak, Los Angeles County Museum

Moving towards a conservation-based approach to preparation

Rhian Russell, Royal Tyrrell Museum

Know your value: evaluating your contributions in paleontology 

Matthew Brown, The University of Texas at Austin

Session Two: The State of The Field Today

In this session three speakers present perspectives on current trends in professional fossil preparation. Our presenters will explore personal experiences, observational interpretation and discourse in the community.

Preparation as A Career Ladder

Scott Madsen, Precision Fossilworks

The Community of Fossil Preparators

Caitlin Wylie, University of Virginia

Classifications and Titles: Institutional Expectations of Preparators

Lisa L. Herzog, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

Session Three: Professional Development in Preparation

In this session three authors present perspectives on how preparators develop additional skills throughout their career. Presenters will review their trajectories through their individual career development paths.

Call me Jack: Other Duties as Assigned

Matt Smith, Petrified Forest National Park

Digital Preparation and Data Collections Management

Joe Groenke, Ohio University

Stepping into Lab Management

Deb Wagner, Petrified Forest National Park

https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/txvp/beyond-the-basics/