The new museum, when it’s done.
At the beginning of this month I started my new job in Grande Prairie with the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum near Grande Prairie, Alberta. Although northern Alberta doesn’t have the same sort of recognition that southern Alberta does when it comes to dinosaurs, this museum is looking to change that (and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that happens). Getting hired on at the museum will let me continue to do the work I’ve started in northern and western Alberta (and other northern places, too), and set me up even closer to my field sites. Despite the whirlwind first couple of weeks, I’ve already been able to spend time out in the field, looking for new sites that might yield something interesting.
The museum right now, which now has concrete poured and is not just literally a hole in the ground.
For the most part though, the next year will be a lot of work making sure that when this museum opens that we have a great story inside. This means a lot of reading and a lot of research, making sure that all of the details of the exhibits are accurate and up to date. What many people don’t realise is just how active the science of palaeontology really is, with new papers being published on a daily basis. Even just within dinosaur palaeontology, there is a new species published about every 2 weeks, and even in the last year, there have been 5 species named just from Alberta, which is already one of the best studied areas in the world.
I’m really looking forward to working with the great team we have, and I can’t wait to take my two kids on a tour once it’s done.
Palaeontology 2.0 