Dr. David D. Gillette, Colbert Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology
Current research under Dr. Gillette’s sponsorship involves geology and paleontology of the Cretaceous Period in southern Utah (fish, sharks, plesiosaurs, sea turtles, a dinosaur, and a variety of invertebrates), Pliocene and Early Pleistocene faunas of Arizona and New Mexico (especially the extinct relatives of armadillos called glyptodonts), and the Quaternary fauna and flora of the drainages north and west of the Grand Canyon in the Parashant National Monument that promise to elucidate the prehistoric record of climate change in the western Colorado Plateau – northeastern Mojave Desert area of western Arizona. His past research has included dinosaur tracks of the Colorado Plateau, geology and stratigraphy of Mesozoic formations of the Colorado Plateau, and a variety of dinosaurs including Seismosaurus from New Mexico and Barapasaurus from India.
Dr. Gary D. Alpert,
My research is focused on the arthropod bio-diversity of the Colorado Plateau with a specialty in ants. I work with Native Americans, the National Park Service and others to collect, inventory, document and photograph a wide variety of arthropods and insects. Working in the field of bio-informatics, I am interested in presenting museum and field data to the general public.
At the museum, I am specifically working to write National Science Foundation (NSF) grants for research and education. In collaboration with Larry Stevens, we are writing a research paper on the ant diversity of the Grand Canyon Ecoregion. I have set up imaging systems at the MNA for high resolution, focus stacking photographs of arthropod biodiversity on the Colorado Plateau. We are in the process of creating a virtual "Museum Image Library of Arthropods" on the Colorado Plateau (MILA).
