RE: Future of palaeontology

[Bill Shear <bills@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>    I would be curious to know what Bill Shear, Una Smith, and other
>paleontologists housed in Biology departments have as their teaching
>assignments.

I teach the first semester of General Biology every term.  In the fall
term, I alternate Evolutionary Theory with Entomology, and in the spring
term, History of Life alternates with Invertebrate Zoology.  A colleague
teaches Vertebrate Paleontology every fourth semester.  As you see, no
paleontology per se from me, but much paleontological data is used in
Evolutionary Theory, and History of Life is essentially an introduction to
paleontology with a very broad overview (incidentally, it is very difficult
to find a book for this course that does justice to the invertebrates.  I
use Cowen, which in the second edition has become even more
vertebrocentric!).  Because, mirable dictu, we have no Geology Department,
I spend some time in History of Life introducing fundamental geological
concepts, including plate tectonics.  In an earlier version of this course,
the geology made up about half the semester, but now I am planning a
separate Geology course, if I can figure a way to offer it.

My training was entirely biological and I have never had a single course in
Geology.  Up to about 1980, my research was in the systematics of
terrestrial arthropods (excluding insects), mainly spiders, harvestmen, and
millipeds.  At that point I was introduced to paleontological research by
Ian Rolfe and have since published numerous papers on early terrestrial
ecosystems, particularly the role of arthropods, and have described many
new species and other taxa of Devonian and Carboniferous terrestrial
arthropods.  My research has been generously supported by NSF for the past
18 years, but my most recent grant (to begin in January and run to 2003) is
under the PEET program of NSF to develop new slants on milliped
systematics.  I've kept working on this while mostly focussing on
paleontology.

My meeting-going activity, with few exceptions, is paleontological/geological.

I'd like to add a footnote to the biology-affiliation thread and suggest
that new graduates in paleontology consider positions in small liberal arts
colleges like Hampden-Sydney.  Paleontological research is ideal for this
setting in that it usually requires minimal expensive equipment and may not
(except for field work) require vast stretches of contiguous time.  The
much closer contact with undergraduate students and with colleagues whose
interests and fields are far from your own can be very stimulating.  I
think too many of us in academe are sold on the research-university model
as the only acceptable environment.

If Mark Wilson is listening in, maybe he can add something to this last
paragraph.  He works at a small college that requires a large commitment to
undergraduate research.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@tiger.hsc.edu>