Friday, April 20, 2012

R.T. Bird Excavating tracks

This is awesome. Thanks Youtube.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Very successful FPCS 5!


Having begun my recovery (and finished my taxes) from the fantastic meeting at the Burke Museum that wrapped up on Sunday, I'd like to say a huge thanks to Christian Sidor, Bruce Crowley, and especially Jessica Cima for hosting and organizing this terrific event. Thanks are due also to the wonderful slate of speakers who presented on a wide variety of topics. Vendors and field trip hosts opened our eyes to some new technologies and methods for caring for fossils, the weather was perfect, and the venue was well suited to our crowd. This was another meeting filled with international colleagues, new ideas, and fantastic conversation.

The venue for the 2013 is still being worked out, but it will be cohosted as the Annual Meeting of the Association for Methods and Materials in Paleontology. More on this will follow as information becomes available!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Modern fossils

This dude is my new hero.

Six collections care jobs opening at the Smithsonian

Copied from the preplist:

The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum is now hiring six (6!) full-time, 4-year term positions in the Office of the Associate Director of Collections and Research (ADRC). Basically, they are in the Collections Management realm, to provide assistance with museum collections management tasks including collections care and conservation, specimen/object curation, pest management, storage improvement, data capture, digitization, and maintenance of datasets containing information. They are not specific to any particular discipline, so there's an opportunity to work in any department of the Museum.

More information on the Duties and application instructions can be found here:
https://my.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/314422100
The hiring level is at GS-5, with promotion potential to a GS-7.
The closing date is April 30th.

Good luck!
Steve

Steve Jabo
VP Prep Lab
Department of Paleobiology
Smithsonian Institution
P.O. Box 37012
Natural History, MRC-121
Washington, DC  20013-7012

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Seattle FPCS Schedule is here- plus new FPCS website

The schedule of this year's Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium can be downloaded from the new FPCS website (work in progress) hosted at FossilPrep.org. There are a bunch of great talks, workshops, field trips, and more slated for this meeting, I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone next week!

Don't forget to bring something to the Burke for the live auction Friday night! Last year's auction raised over $2500 in seed money for 2012. Thanks again to Arvid Aase for doing such an amazing job... anyone think we can we top it this year?

Looks like the UW host committee [Jessica Cima, Bruce Crowley, and Christian Sidor] have done a fantastic job putting this show together.

Smithsonian Fossil Preparator Job

Copied from the Preplist:

The Smithsonian's Natural History Museum is very happy to advertise for a full-time, permanent position in our Vertebrate Paleontology Prep Lab, in the Department of Paleobiology.
As the Summary says, "The employee provides assistance in research through preparation of fossil vertebrate specimens; aids in collecting, repairing and conserving collections of fossil vertebrates; and performs basic curatorial functions such as rearranging and documenting the collections."
The Duties are:
   Assists in the preparation and replication of fossil vertebrate specimens for study, exhibition, and incorporation into the National Collections.
   Assists in the field work for collection of vertebrate fossils as directed in the company of NMNH staff.
   Maintains and improves the fossil vertebrate collections as directed.
   Interacts with a diversity of individuals and groups including visitors, volunteers, amateur paleontologists, students and colleagues from this and other institutions.

Please sharpen your favorite crayon, sharpen your CV, and get your application in as soon as possible! And please spread the word to as many people as possible (so no apologies for cross-posting :-). This is a great opportunity for everyone involved.

The important dates:

Opening Date: April 5, 2012

*CLOSING DATE: APRIL 19, 2012*

And here's where to find the nuts and bolts of applying. (The two links are for the same job)

Announcement #:                           12R-MR-297386-DEU-NMNH (public/non-status)
Position Title:                                    Museum Technician (Geology)
Open and Close Dates:                  April 5, 2012 – April 19, 2012
Vacancy Location:                            Washington, DC
Last Updated:                                    April 5, 2012
Pay Plan/Series/Grades:               GS-1016-07 ($42,209.00 to $54,875.00 / Per Year)

http://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/313578300

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~