The Paleontological Society
gastropod
Photo courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

Centennial Programming 5-02-08

GENERAL

  1. Record number of paleontology-themed technical sessions: 25 topical sessions plus 6-10 discipline sessions plus one Pardee session. Exact number of topical and discipline sessions won’t be finalized until end of June.

Saturday October 4th
8-5pm: Paleontological Society Centennial Short Course---From Evolution to Geobiology: Research Questions Driving Paleontology at the Start of a New Century in George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

Organized by Patricia H. Kelley (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) and Richard K. Bambach (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)

At the centennial of the Paleontological Society, our program surveys the broad range of research topics that hold promise for the future in our profession. Rather than asking "the usual suspects" to pontificate on what we already know interests them, we have invited a group of young to mid-career leaders to address the spectrum of research questions that are motivating their research. New approaches to issues ranging across all of paleontology, each with new results, are on the program. Geobiology, evolution, vertebrate paleontology, systematics, isotope studies, paleobiogeography, paleoecology, paleobotany and more are represented. This will be a day to connect with the "new" multidisciplinary paleontology. Join us and expand your horizons. Speakers include: Abigail Allwood, Kevin Boyce, Christopher Brochu, Andrew Bush, Gregory Dietl, Gene Hunt, Hope Jahren, Rowan Lockwood, Gordon Love, Ryosuke Motani, Shanan Peters, Kevin Peterson, David Sepkoski, Alycia Stigall, Colin Sumrall, Leif Tapanila, Peter Wilf, and Shuhai Xiao.    

Monday, October 6th
Morning: Pardee Keynote Symposium: Breakthroughs in Paleontology: The Paleontological Society Centennial Symposium in George R. Brown Convention Center in downtown Houston.

Organized by Jere H. Lipps (University of California, Berkeley) and J. William Schopf (University of California, Los Angeles)
This session celebrates the Paleontological Society's Centennial by highlighting the signal advances made in paleontology over the past 100 years. The presentations fall into three major themes: 1. Unveiling the Record of Life’s History; 2. Paradigm-changing Breakthroughs; and 3. Paleontology’s Contributions to Society and the World.
Sponsored by: Paleontological Society; Cushman Foundation; GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology; GSA Geoscience Education; GSA History of Geology; Paleontologic Research Institute

PROPOSED TOPICAL SESSIONS—Keep in mind that these are only proposed and won’t be accepted/declined until end of June

Organizers

Title

Kirk R. Johnson, kjohnson@dmns.org, Ian Miller, imiller@dmns.org

After the Last Ammonite and Before the First Horse: Patterns of Ecological and Climatic Change during the Paleocene.

Anthony Fiorillo, tfiorillo@natureandscience.org, Paul McCarthy, mccarthy@gi.alaska.edu

Ancient polar ecosystems and environments: proxies for understanding climate change and global warming

Brian J. O'Neill, brian.oneill@shell.com, Jere H. Lipps, jlipps@uclink4.berkeley.edu, Alicia C.M. Kahn, kahn@chevron.com, Andrew Bowman, Andy.Bowman@chevron.com

Applied Micropaleontology: Tools and Techniques for the 21st Century

Leigh M. Fall, lfall@geo.tamu.edu, Jocelyn Sessa, jsessa@psu.edu, Austin J.W. Hendy, austin.hendy@yale.edu

Breaking the curve: Historical development, current state, and future prospects for understanding local and regional processes governing global diversity

Claudia C. Johnson, claudia@indiana.edu, Jere Lipps, jlipps@uclink4.berkeley.edu, George Stanley, george.stanley@umontana.edu, Dennis Hubbard, dennis.hubbard@oberlin.edu

Crises on the Reefs? Anticipating the Effects of Global Warming on Reefs by Reference to the Fossil Record. Is the Past Really the Key to the Present in the New Field of Conservation Paleobiology?

David J. Bottjer, dbottjer@usc.edu, Lisa E. Park, lepark@uakron.edu

Deep Time Earth Life Observatories (DETELOs): Focusing on Critical Transitions in the History of Life

Kevin J. Cunningham, kcunning@usgs.gov, H. Allen Curran, acurran@email.smith.edu

Exploring the Role of Endobenthic Organisms in Enhancing Porosity and Permeability of Sedimentary Aquifers and Reservoirs

Julie B. Retrum, retrum@ku.edu, Stephen T. Hasiotis, hasiotis@ku.edu

Field and Quantitative Paleontology, Micropaleontology, and Taxonomy: A Memorial to Roger L. Kaesler

Lisa E. Park, lepark@uakron.edu, Thomas A. Rothfus, grcss@juno.com

From San Salvador and Beyond: A Tribute to Don and Kathy Gerace and the Development of the Gerace Research Centre

Louis G. Zachos, zachos@mail.utexas.edu, Ann Molineux, annm@mail.utexas.edu

Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain Paleontology

Amy Kelly, kellya@MIT.EDU, Courtney H. Turich, courtney.turich@skio.usg.edu

Hypersaline Ecosystems and Paleosalinity

 

Alycia L. Stigall, stigall@ohio.edu, Jonathan Hendricks, jrhendri@ku.edu

Integrative Systematic Paleontology for a New Century: Advancing Evolutionary, Phylogenetic, Biogeographic, and Ecologic Theory with Specimen Based Studies

Neil Tibert, ntibert@umw.edu, Bosiljka Glumac, bglumac@email.smith.edu

Leaving Traces - Making Marks: In Honor of H. Allen Curran

Douglas H. Erwin, erwind@si.edu

Major Transitions in the history of life: Environment and Ecosystems

Daniel I. Hembree, hembree@ohio.edu, Brian F. Platt, bfplatt@ku.edu, Jon J. Smith, jjsmith@ku.edu

Neontological Solutions to Paleontological Problems: Actualistic Studies of the Morphology, Behavior, and Ecology of Modern Analogs for Ancient Organisms

Robin Kodner, robinkodner@post.harvard.edu, Amy E. Kelly, kellya@mit.edu

Organic geochemical approaches to studying the evolution of photosynthetic life through time

Paul D. Taylor, pdt@nhm.ac.uk, Mark A. Wilson, mwilson@wooster.edu, Noel P. James, james@geol.queensu.ca

Paleontological and sedimentological consequences of calcite and aragonite sea dynamics

Michael A. Gibson, mgibson@utm.edu, Elizabeth Heise, eheise@utb.edu

Paleontology through the Ages – Teaching, Learning, or Both

Robert A. Gastaldo, ragastal@colby.edu, William A. DiMichele, dimichel@si.edu, Isabel P. Montanez, montanez@geology.ucdavis.edu, Neil Tabor, ntabor@smu.edu

Permian and Triassic Terrestrial Biotic Responses to Global Perturbations

Colin D. Sumrall, csumrall@utk.edu, Christopher Brochu, christopher-brochu@uiowa.edu, Talia Karim, talia-karim@uiowa.edu

Phylogenetic Perspectives on Assembling the Tree of Life in Deep Time

Marc Laflamme, laflamme@geoladm.geol.queensu.ca, Stephen Q. Dornbos, sdornbos@uwm.edu

Quantifying the Early Evolution of Life: Numerical approaches to the evaluation of Precambrian/Cambrian Animals and Ecosystems

Peter J. Harries, harries@cas.usf.edu, Richard J. Twitchett, richard.twitchett@plymouth.ac.uk

Recoveries from Mass Extinction: Patterns, Processes, and Comparisons

David H. Goodwin, goodwind@denison.edu, David P. Gillikin, dagillikin@vassar.edu, David H. Kesler, kesler@rhodes.edu

Sclerochronologic Archives from Rivers to the Sea: Documentation, Interpretation, and Utility

Dee Ann Cooper, deeanncooper@yahoo.com, Roger W. Cooper, rwcooper@my.lamar.edu

The Western Interior Seaway (POSTER)

Caroline A.E. Stromberg, caestrom@u.washington.edu, Matthew J. Kohn, mattkohn@boisestate.edu

What good are (fossil) plants anyway? New methods for investigating old problems