World-Class Scientists to Attend PaleoFest

World-Class Scientists to Attend PaleoFest

By Peggy Werner

Burpee Museum’s PaleoFest will bring to Rockford some of the world’s leading scientists to speak about their research on fossilized plants and animals. These puzzle pieces help us to understand life from its earliest beginnings.

In its 21 st year, PaleoFest is open to the public Saturday and Sunday, March 2-3, and features workshops, family lectures and sessions for teachers who want to bring the most current research information to their classrooms. All events are at the museum, 737 N. Main St.

PaleoFest attracts specialists from around the world but also has something for all ages, says Burpee Museum Executive Director Anne Weerda.

“PaleoFest is an opportunity to celebrate the ongoing research and specimens at Burpee and other museums,” says Weerda. “The talks are designed for dinosaur and fossil enthusiasts of all ages.”

A members-only reception will take place Friday, March 1, at 6 p.m., followed at 7 p.m. by an address from Burpee’s Engellehardt-Moore Director of Paleontology, Joshua Mathews.

Mathews, from Milton, Wis., was working on his Master’s degree at Northern Illinois University when he began volunteering as a fossil preparer in the Burpee paleontology lab, in 2004. He joined a small Burpee expedition to southeastern Montana in the summer of 2005. On that trip, the Triceratops, Homer, was discovered. Further excavation in 2006 revealed multiple Triceratops specimens, making it the first documented Triceratops bone bed, which became the focus of Mathew’s Master’s thesis. He’s now working on his doctorate degree at NIU.

Mathews has been involved with PaleoFest since 2005 and seen it grow.

“The event attracts people who want to learn about history and are curious about what the world was like before we walked this earth,” he says. “They are literally seeing another world and piecing together stories to see how plants and animals lived millions of years ago.”

On both days, doors open at 9 a.m. with family workshops and activities for all ages from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Replicas or reproductions of specimens from museums around the country will be auctioned off throughout the day.

Saturday evening will begin with a 4:30 p.m. cocktail hour and a 6:30 p.m. dinner catered by Franchesco’s. Keynote speaker Sanna El-Sayed of Mansoura University in Egypt will give a presentation at 7 p.m. She is the first woman vertebrate paleontologist from the Middle East to have her work published internationally and is the vice president of the Vertebrate Paleontology Center, the first of its kind in Egypt. She has led many excavations.

PaleoFest visitors can also see the real “Jane” skull and other pieces of the Burpee collection that are not normally on display. About 90 percent of the museum’s collection is not on display because it’s too delicate, too difficult to display, or is being researched. But some items will be brought out for teaching purposes. Jane’s real skull is only brought out on special occasions, Weerda says.

Jane brought fame to Rockford and Burpee becaue she’s the world’s most complete and best preserved juvenile Tyrannosaurus rex. A field crew from the museum discovered Jane in 2001 in the Hell Creek Formation near Ekalaka, Mont. After years of preparation, her 21-foot-tall skeleton became part of the museum’s permanent exhibit in 2005.

PaleoFest presenters will include Dr. Thomas Holtz, Jr., an American vertebrate paleontologist and main lecturer at University of Maryland’s Geology Department. Author of several dinosaur books, he’s also a scientic advisor for the BBC television series, “Walking With Dinosaurs.” He will speak on Saturday.

For the first time, professional development classes will be offered for teachers who want to learn more about how to teach paleontology, says Weerda, who is a teacher and trainer of teachers.

“These workshops will help teachers gain access to up-to-the-moment research, some of which has not yet been published,” she says. “There will also be ideas for what they can do in their classrooms and lesson plans to bring science alive for students. This is something they will never find in a textbook.

“PaleoFest is an opportunity to see some of the greatest minds of our time coming together in Rockford to talk about science. We should all be very proud that Burpee is an intellectual center in our community.”

Museum admission is $12/non-members, $8/youth and $4/members. A Paleo- Fest Family Workshop Passis $40/nonmembers and $25/members. The entire science lecture pass weekend is $135/nonmembers and $110/students or members. A one-day lecture pass, which includes the cocktail reception, is $65/non-members and $50/members. A two-day lecture pass, which includes the cocktail hour and dinner, is $85/non-members and $70/ members. Tickets can be purchased online at burpee.org, in person at Burpee, or by calling (815) 965-3433. ❚