Podcast appearances and mentions of Raymond M Alf

What is it like to take high schoolers on paleontology digs and curate a museum on a high school campus? Dr. Andy Farke, Director of the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology at The Webb Schools, discusses the inspiration he gets from educating high schoolers, his home-brewing hobby and blog, and why it's essential to make science exciting even for people who will never become career scientists. Follow Andy on Twitter @AndyFarke. Learn more about the students producing this podcast and their science communication efforts by following us on Twitter @SciCommUCR and visiting our website.

In this episode, in conjunction with the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP), we investigate issues of diversity in palaeontology, through interviews with Jann Nassif (PhD student at Ohio University, USA) on being transgender in palaeontology; Professor Taissa Rodrigues (Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Brazil) and Dr Femke Holwerda (Dr Betsy Nicholls Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Canada) about women in palaeontology; and Gabriel-Philip Santos (Collections Manager and Outreach Coordinator at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology at The Webb Schools) about racial diversity. We also spoke with Professor Jessica Theodor (University of Calgary), the Vice President of SVP about what they are doing to increase diversity and address these issues. This episode was recorded in 2019 at the SVP meeting in Brisbane, Australia, but for several reasons has taken us a little while to complete. Given the current discussions and anti-racism activism going on around the world, we thought this was a good time to reflect on some of the issues within our science and the ways in which they are being addressed.

To honor our recent collaboration with TheSciCommunity, we sat down with the founders Dan and Gabe and discussed the importance of science communication.  Dan and Gabe share their values and mission to spread science in a transparent and direct way.  Also in this episode, we discuss our pathways into science, how to improve the dialogue between scientists and the public, and fake news.  We also talk about the Skype A Scientist program that connects scientists with classrooms around the world.  Finally, we answer the question: Is scicomm enough?   About Dan Dan is a science writer and founder of Instagram's theSciCommunity, a science-centered networking page that strives to bring scientists and science enthusiasts from all over the world together to share their love of the STEAM fields.  Dan strives to prove to as many people willing to listen that science is for everyone. Connect with Dan on Instagram.   About Gabe Gabe Santos is a paleontologist from Los Angeles, California where he is the Collections Manager and Outreach Coordinator for the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology.  As Collections Manager, Gabe is responsible for the care, cataloging, and organization of the Alf Museum’s research fossils.  Also as Outreach Coordinator, he organizes the museum’s outreach and education programs, such as Skype in the Classroom and Discovery Days.  Gabe also assists in teaching the Museum After School program.  He received his B.Sc. in biology at University of California-Irvine, and his M.Sc. in geology at California State University-Fullerton.  His research interests focus on the Eocene vertebrate fauna of Southern California and the paleobiology of marine mammals, particularly in the extinct hippo-like desmostylians.  Gabe is also an active science communicator and co-founder of the Cosplay for Science Initiative, which connects pop culture with science education to make science more relatable and scientists more approachable.  Connect with Gabe on Instagram. Also check out Cosplay for Science.   More Information Follow even more awesome science communicators on Instagram @silli_scientist @beyond.the.ivory.tower @susannalharris @chem.with.kellen @becky.outside @animedia_science @science.bae @caimarison @patrickkelly_ @thescalex.of.science @mark_thescienceguy @ph_d_epression Want to learn more about science communication?  Listen to Episode 20: Biomedical Engineering and Science Education with Stephanie Teeter to hear a discussion about difficulties in science education recorded at ComSciCon Triangle.     Any other questions?  Let us know!  We appreciate your feedback. You can now support the podcast at https://www.patreon.com/sfspodcast.  Many thanks to our past and present supporters!  Thanks to Plant Warrior for their support.  Use discount code SFS10 at checkout for 10% off your purchase of plant-based protein.  

We got to chat with Dr. Andrew Farke and Gabriel-Philip Santos, from the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology. In the news: Theropod tracks on the roof of a cave in France, sauropod tracks on a cliff in China, and both theropod and sauropod tracks in a quarry in Arkansas; new dinosaur exhibits; McDonald's got in trouble for an anti-dinosaur-museum ad; and more Dinosaur of the day Gojirasaurus, "Godzilla lizard", a carnivorous dinosaur named after a movie character, which was based on a dinosaur... This episode is brought to you in part by TRX Dinosaurs, which makes beautiful and realistic dinosaur sculptures, puppets, and animatronics. You can see some amazing examples and works in progress on Instagram @trxdinosaurs To get access to lots of patron only content check out https://www.patreon.com/iknowdino. For links to every news story, all of the details we shared about Gojirasaurus, more links from Andy & Gabe, and our fun fact check out http://iknowdino.com/gojirasaurus-episode-165/

Ceratopsians are some of the most iconic dinosaurs that we recognise today including animals like Triceratops and Styracosaurus, with their big horns and frills. But is that what all 'horned dinosaurs' looked like? In fact, early ceratopsians were small and horn-less, sharing other characteristics with their larger, more derived relatives. At the The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 2014 we met up with Dr. Andy Farke from the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in California and discussed ceratopsian diversity and a new species he was involved with naming and describing.