11 minute read
The Alf Museum
Paleontologist and Educator Dr. Alexis Mychajliw Honored by the Alf Museum
The Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology recognized Dr. Alexis Mychajliw with the Alf Award for Excellence in Paleontological Research and Education at the annual Peccary Society event, held virtually this year. Now in its sixth year, the award honors a paleontologist who demonstrates exceptional achievement both in original scientific research, as well as in education and outreach at the primary and secondary school (K–12) levels.
Mychajliw is a postdoctoral associate at the University of Oklahoma and a research associate at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum. She is a noted expert on Ice Age animals, particularly in studies that use the fossil record to understand contemporary issues of wildlife conservation and environmental change. Mychajliw’s fieldwork has included collaborations in California, as well as in the Dominican Republic and Trinidad & Tobago, uncovering fossils that have been important in better understanding small and large-scale transitions from prehistory into the modern day. Alongside this impressive research program, Mychajliw has maintained a strong presence as an educator and mentor for high school students. Through funding from the Society for Science and the Public, she developed a high school science research program for female students and those from underrepresented backgrounds. These students completed research projects in paleontology and presented them at Los Angeles-area science fairs. Additionally, Mychajliw has been active with the “Skype a Scientist” program, which has allowed further direct engagement with students and other interested people around the world.
Alf Museum curator Andy Farke commented, “Dr. Mychajliw’s influence as a researcher alongside her notable efforts for education are truly within the spirit of Ray Alf, and should be an inspiration to everyone in the field.” “Knowledge comes in many forms and lives in many places—this is one of the most important values I hold as a scientist, and I strive to instill in my students,” said Mychajliw. “Working in education and research simultaneously means that even if I am not excited or inspired at the moment, seeing a student make a connection or become fascinated by a question immediately reminds me why I became a scientist in the first place.”
Alf Museum Deepens Presence in Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Leadership and Conferences
Professional organizations in every field provide networking opportunities, advocacy, and professional support. For the Alf Museum, one of the most relevant bodies is the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP). Ray Alf himself was an early member of SVP, and was honored by the society with the Morris F. Skinner Prize for his contributions to the field. Since then, museum staff and Webb students have continued to be active in the organization.
Earlier this year, Augustyn Family Curator and Director of Research & Collections Dr. Andy Farke was elected to SVP leadership, as a Member-at-Large for the Executive Committee. In this capacity, Farke helps support efforts by the society’s president and vice president, in addition to representing a voice of the membership on the committee. “As the only member of the executive team who is a high school educator, and as the only representative who is primarily located at a museum, I’m really excited for this opportunity to bring a new voice to SVP’s leadership,” says Farke. (cont)
(cont) Presentation of student research at the SVP annual meeting has been a major highlight for generations of Webb students. At the conference, students get to meet worldrenowned researchers and share the results of research projects from the Advanced Studies in Paleontology (ASIP) class. This year, the conference was held virtually, with three student projects presented. The first focused on preservation bias in fossil horse toe bones from the Barstow Formation, using fossils collected by hundreds of Webb students, alumni, faculty and staff over the years. Vicky Gu ’21 and Yaoran (Isabella) Shi ’21 are the lead authors on this project. A second project, led by Jenny (Jingyi) Han ’21, used CT scans to reconstruct the brain of the horned dinosaur Leptoceratops. The third project, with Wyatt Andrews ’21 and Mason Letteau-Stallings ’21, provided preliminary results on fossils collected during the 2019 Summer Peccary Trip to Wyoming.
Regarding his experience presenting research at the SVP meeting, Wyatt Andrews ’21 commented, “I very much looked forward to showing admired professionals the work I’ve done, whether it be the identifications or the artwork.” All of the student researchers are honored as Rogers Peccary Scholars through this program that supports student activities at the Alf Museum.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Bailey Jorgensen
To run a world class paleontology program, like the Alf Museum does at The Webb Schools, a skilled and dedicated staff is essential. Here, we feature Bailey Jorgensen, our most experienced collections assistant, who works in collections storage rooms rarely seen by the public, but also occasionally serves as an outreach assistant.
Jorgensen grew up in Montana and graduated from Montana State University with a degree in archaeology. Before arriving at Webb in 2017, Jorgensen helped preserve and sailed on historic traditionally rigged tall ships for maritime museums and institutes in Maine and southern California, where she also taught history, environmental science and sailing methods.
Specimens in the collections of a museum are its intellectual core, and the nearly 200,000 fossils at the Alf Museum are no exception. Jorgensen’s duties include updating locality and accessions databases, maintaining the Specify specimen database, and cataloging both recently collected fossils and those in the backlog of uncatalogued specimens from peccary trips 50 years ago. She also makes sure specimens are properly housed and labeled using archival quality materials. One of her favorite tasks is making cavity mounts for fragile fossils, where delicate specimens are snugly nested in foam cut to fit their shape.
Fossils are often removed from the collections so they can be studied, and Jorgensen ensures that Webb students have access to specimens they need for their research projects in the Advanced Studies in Paleontology (ASIP) course. She also processes specimen loans to researchers at other museums throughout North America. Because Webb is doing online classes, Bailey is currently digitizing specimens, using laser scanning and photogrammetry, to give ASIP students remote access.
She has multiple collections projects ongoing at any one time. A current example is tracking down locality data for anthill specimens from the Meng and Arner ranches (Nebraska) found by the Peccary Society in the 1950s. This involves searching through drawers and old card catalogs to locate the relevant information. Bailey also maintains and organizes the museum’s physical and digital archives, which includes old photographs of Ray Alf and Webb students on peccary trips.
Jorgensen also helps collect fossils, and her favorite experience was being on the crew at the remote helicopter supported camp in Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument (Utah), where she excavated at the Cripe Site. She notes that “helping to find the fossils, and then continuing to take care of them back at the museum was awesome.”
Eventually, Jorgensen hopes to earn an advanced degree involving lab work and fossil preservation techniques. In the meantime, she enjoys the many hiking and surfing opportunities that California has to offer.
Rendering of the dinosaur Leptoceratops, ©Hannah Caisse.
Alf Museum Hosts Science Illustration Intern
Paleontologists may find the bones, but science illustrators are the ones who help bring the fossils back to life! A well-crafted illustration illuminates anatomy in the description of a dinosaur bone, or resurrects a long-gone prehistoric environment as it was in living color. During the past five years, the Alf Museum has hosted artists from Cal StateMonterey Bay as part of the university’s certificate program in science illustration. While in residence at the museum, the artists work on several projects to further research and outreach, while building their own professional portfolios as illustrators.
The 2020 science illustration intern was Hannah Caisse. Prior to beginning formal studies in science illustration, Caisse completed her undergraduate studies in ecology and evolution at UC Santa Cruz, and had even published her illustrations in several books on natural history of California. Due to the Webb campus closure, Caisse completed her work remotely, while meeting regularly with museum staff over teleconference. She recently finished an illustration of the dinosaur Leptoceratops, in support of a Webb student research project, and is currently illustrating the prehistoric environment of eastern Wyoming, as revealed by fossils collected on peccary trips in the 1960s and 1970s.
Work produced during this internship will be included in scientific publications, public outreach materials, and social media communications.
Touring the Museum from Home
Museums have always been a place for learning and discovery. But in a time when museums are no longer accessible, how do the curious get the answers they seek, and how do people hungry for knowledge get their fill? The answer is simple: the museum goes to them! by Gabe Santos
Since we closed in March, we have made tremendous strides in developing virtual programs that are both meaningful and accessible to the public and the Webb community. Our outreach team, consisting of tours manager Monique Reyes, and outreach staff Billie Guerrero, Chelsea Moreno, and Bailey Jorgensen, and myself (outreach coordinator), transformed our in-person educational programs into engaging virtual experiences. Luckily, we had already been in the process of developing virtual programs for future use, as volunteer Alexander Ozbirn had just finished creating a virtual database of our exhibits. So only two weeks after the lockdown, we were able to release our Exhibit Exploration and Dynamic Dinosaurs virtual experiences. Through these programs, our audiences are given an in-depth tour of the museum and are able to interact directly with our outreach educators, all from the comfort of their homes. While most museums have focused on developing online videos, the Alf was one of the first museums to focus their virtual content on directly engaging audiences in real time. Our programs have even been shown to volunteers at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as an example for them to follow.
At the same time, we also wanted to develop a more informal program that allowed anyone to learn about paleontology, but one that would give them another opportunity to engage directly with paleontologists. In collaboration with our partner museum, the Western Science Center, we created a livestream program called Fossil Friday Chats, This weekly series broadcasts live on YouTube (previously Facebook Live) and features a guest paleontologist every week who shares their experiences and knowledge and also allows viewers to ask them questions from anywhere in the world! In addition, as part of the Alf Museum’s dedication to diversity and inclusivity in STEM, Fossil Friday Chats was developed to represent the growing diversity of paleontology, and also to provide a platform for early-career professionals, students, and scientists from underrepresented backgrounds to showcase their science and science communication skills.
Additionally, as part of our efforts to increase accessibility in museum education and in consideration of those in the community facing lay-offs and furloughs, we decided to offer these virtual experiences at no-cost. The Alf Museum is also proud to be able to provide these virtual experiences with auto-captions for the hearing impaired, and we are working to ensure other accommodations are available as well.
After six months of online programming, we provided virtual exhibit experiences to over 2,500 people and our Fossil Friday Chats (more than 30 episodes) were viewed by thousands. Also, we developed new networks with afterschool and youth programs such as the Boys and Girls Club and YMCA. We also continue to expand online content to provide even more educational resources. In October, when we launched an introduction to paleontology after-school program for 6th-9th graders led by Billie Guerrero. Also, Chelsea Moreno is developing long-format, narrative-based educational videos to highlight museum specimens. We even started the Moments of Time webinar series for the Webb community to highlight the work and personal stories of Alf Museum paleontologists, Webb student researchers, and scientists from around the world.
Thus, when we closed the doors of the Alf Museum, we continued to serve as an educational resource thanks to technology. As described in the first verse of the Peccary Song, what was once “the little museum on the hill,” is now the little museum with world-wide virtual outreach. Also, when we can welcome guests back into our exhibit halls, we will continue to provide these online resources to our everexpanding community of fossil enthusiasts, thus greatly increasing our footprint in educational programming.
Our audiences can now tour
our exhibit halls and see
Allosaurus from their homes
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