Dig Deeper

Head of Paleontology

Dr. Lindsay Zanno

Associate Research Professor, NC State

Lindsay Zanno’s career in paleontology started with a blindfold and Rand McNally Atlas. Along the way, she completed a BS summa cum laude at the University of New Mexico and an MS and PhD from the University of Utah. She was subsequently awarded the John Caldwell-Meeker and Bucksbaum Young Scientist postdoctoral fellowships at The Field Museum in Chicago. Today, she holds a joint curatorial/professorial appointment in North Carolina and research affiliations with the Field Museum of Natural History, Natural History Museum of Utah, Sam Noble Museum and the University of Witwatersrand. She also presides over The Jurassic Foundation—a non-profit organization funding dinosaur research.

Lindsay’s science is broad, blending field discoveries, systematics, quantitative approaches, and cutting-edge technologies to reconstruct the lost biodiversity and paleobiology of dinosaurs—from transitions in reproduction, diet, and growth, to the impact of climate change on Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems. Her work is regularly published in high-profile journals such as Science, Nature, Nature Communications, Science Advances, PNAS, and Scientific Reports (for which she was awarded two top 100 author recognitions) and has been recognized as Nature World News’ Top Dinosaur Stories, and Discover Magazine’s Top 100 Science Stories, Top Dinosaur Discoveries, and Year in Science Top Research. Recently she received the 18th International Award in Palaeontological Research (Paleonturology 20). Lindsay has 20+ years of global expedition experience in places such as China, Mongolia, Thailand, Mexico and Tanzania, yet maintains a soft spot for the American West from where she’s described many new species, among them the bird-like theropods Talos and Hagryphus, scythe-clawed therizinosaur Nothronychus, megapredator Siats, and Moros, North America’s tiniest tyrannosaur.

Lindsay’s other passion is transparency in science. She has been featured in eight documentaries by notables such as the Science Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, BBC, and Nova, served as Science Advocate for the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular, and currently shares the excitement of paleontology as a speaker for National Geographic Live! She also leads several citizen science and STEM education projects and the real-time social media platform—Expedition Live! connecting the public with paleontologists in the field. For these and other efforts, she was honored with Alumni Outstanding Engagement Scholarship and Outstanding Engagement awards from North Carolina State University.

Lindsay’s published impact includes >250 technical works and over a dozen popular publications. To date, her lab has received over $7.3 million dollars in direct funding for research and education.

Operations Manager, Paleontology

Lisa Herzog

Lisa Herzog oversees technical operations for the Museum’s paleontology unit where she manages specimen preparation, conservation and metadata standards from field collection to accessioning. She is versed in all technical aspects of specimen preparation with a focus on maintaining the research value of specimens and has over two decades of experience in these areas. She has developed new and modified existing techniques to provide better solutions for difficult specimens. Her career in paleontology began at The Field Museum in Chicago where she was trained in fossil preparation and worked on specimens from all over the world, including many species new to science (holotype specimens). Her skills as a fossil preparator led her to perform contract fossil preparation work for researchers at The Burke Museum in Seattle, American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin Germany.

Lisa’s experience and interest in fossil care and conservation led her to collaborate with colleagues to establish the Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology, a professional organization that focuses on best practices in fossil care. She served on the board in several capacities and received a service award for her efforts. Lisa also serves on the Preparators Committee of the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology. 

Lisa’s contributions to paleontology also include exhibit development, external consultation on laboratory design and training volunteers and inexperienced fossil preparators. Lisa sees the field of paleontology as an interconnected science, and considers all components to the process of research and discovery as essential. Working in a museum setting with responsibilities ranging from educational outreach, volunteer recruitment and training, field expedition planning and management, as well as lab management has provided her a clear understanding of the importance of passing this information along concisely and effectively.  To that end, Lisa participates in the process from field collecting, to data management, fossil preparation, conservation, curation, measurement, analysis and presentation.

Lisa holds a Master of Science degree in Biological Sciences from North Carolina State University and a Master of Arts in Sociology from DePaul University. Her current research focuses on a unique clade of Mesozoic turtles known as Helochelydridae, and unique solutions to the problem of pyrite decay in collections.

Manager, SECU DinoLab

Eric Lund

Eric Lund’s dream of being a paleontologist sparked at the age of three, when he got his first glimpse of the dinosaur bones and mounts at Dinosaur National Monument in eastern Utah. Subsequently, Eric went on to receive his BS and MS degrees in geology and geophysics from the University of Utah and is currently finishing a PhD through Ohio University’s Interdisciplinary Program, where his doctoral research fuses geology, biology and cutting-edge computer modeling to understand the evolutionary morphology and functional anatomy of ceratopsian (horned) dinosaurs. Eric’s research and field expeditions have taken him all over the world including the western United States, Canada, Mexico, China and Africa. To date, Eric and colleagues have described several new species of ceratopsian dinosaur, including Coahuilaceratops from northern Mexico, and Nasutoceratops and Machairoceratops from southern Utah.
 
Currently, Eric is the Manager of the SECU DinoLab, an on-exhibit, state-of-the-art fossil research and conservation laboratory at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Prior to joining the Museum, he was the Fossil Lab Coordinator at Ohio University where he directed the daily practical operations of that lab, and the Lab and Field Expedition Manager at the Natural History Museum of Utah, amassing over 20 years of academic and technical experience in paleontology. While at the Natural History Museum of Utah, Eric helped develop many of the fossil exhibits seen throughout the grand dinosaur hall.  Additionally, Eric serves on several external professional society committees including the Hix Preparators Grant Committee through the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, and the Elections Committee through the Association of Materials and Methods in Paleontology.
 
During his career Eric has taught courses in biology, anatomy, comparative vertebrate morphology and fossil preparation, where he endeavors to inspire future scientists and fossil preparators both academically and professionally. Eric continues to inspire future scientists through public outreach, science communication and popular science media, including giving numerous public and professional science talks, being the scientific consultant for Highlights magazine, Beasts of the Mesozoic ceratopsian figurine series, and Safari Ltd. Nasutoceratops figurine. Eric has also worked in the digital media realm including filming a documentary with the BBC and being featured on the podcast Past Time. 

Assistant Manager, SECU DinoLab

Dr. Jennifer Anné

Jennifer “Indy” Anné is the Assistant Manager of the SECU DinoLab. Her areas of research include paleopathology (injuries and diseases in fossils), bone chemistry and histology, which she studies using a variety of cutting-edge techniques including synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence and spectroscopy. Jenn has been working in museums for 20 years in a variety of roles including fossil preparation, collections, museum education and exhibit management. She also has extensive experience in exhibit design and content writing, having been involved heavily with both permanent and temporary fossil and natural sciences exhibits of all sizes in US and UK museums. Along with museum work, Jenn has participated in multiple digs in the US and around the world including Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Canada and the UK. Much of her dig and museum work has been covered by a variety of local and international media including CNN, Discovery and the BBC. Jenn received her PhD from the University of Manchester (UK), an MS from Temple University, and a BS from the University of Delaware. 

Preparator, SECU DinoLab

Aubrey Knowles

Aubrey Knowles earned her AS with a concentration in biology from Wake Technical Community College. She started her journey with the Museum as a volunteer preparator in the Paleontology Research Lab. In 2019, she became a part-time preparator working on specimens from the Triassic of North Carolina. Aubrey’s fossil preparation experience includes histology, surface scanning and pyrite decay mitigation. Aubrey has done fieldwork in North Carolina, Utah and Montana. She has also worked closely with North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences education staff to develop outreach and education programs related to paleontology for preschool and early childhood educator audiences. 

Preparator, SECU DinoLab

Candice “Nikki” Simon

Candice “Nikki” Simon graduated from Georgia State University (GSU) with a bachelor’s degree in Geoscience with a concentration in geology in 2021. She has traveled nationwide, working with the National Park Service (NPS) including Dinosaur National Monument (DINO) & Capitol Reef National Park (CARE) in search of magnificent fossils. 

She has always had a fascination with prehistoric creatures, but dinosaurs are her favorite.  Nikki has a passion for paleontology education outreach programs. She is a member of the Girl Scouts of America and while serving as a program mentor, she had the opportunity to spread awareness to young people of all ages in exploring the field of paleontology. Getting young people of all ages, especially young girls, involved in this field and letting them know anything is achievable if they have passion, determination, and drive is a goal of hers. Nikki is always eager to share her knowledge about geology and paleontology with the public. 

She also has a passion for fossil preparation. “Taking something out of the ground that no human eyes have ever seen and taking it back to the lab for prep is amazing. Granting the public to see these creatures finished is the real treat in this profession.”

Preparator, SECU DinoLab

Matthew Mers

Matthew Mers fell into geology and paleontology by chance but has not looked back since. He is currently completing a MS in Earth Science from Emporia State University and earned a BS in Earth Science with minors in Paleontology, Geospatial Analysis and Geography. Matthew previously worked to prepare and curate Cretaceous dinosaurs, and Pennsylvanaian fauna as well as instructed fossil preparation, and earth science courses. He has performed geological and paleontological fieldwork in Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Utah and Wyoming, and loves digging up and preparing fossils.  One of his favorite things about museums is their ability to inspire people to learn about science. Matthew Mers is interested in the material science of fossil preparation and collections (especially adhesives), as well as terrestrial ichnology, vertebrate morphology, and GIS applications in paleontology. His current research revolves around the chasmosaurine dinosaur Torosaurus and Cretaceous plant trace fossils. 

Digital Technician, SECU DinoLab

Haviv Avrahami

Haviv Avrahami is a PhD student at North Carolina State University studying the anatomy, paleobiology, ontogeny and phylogeny of thescelosaur dinosaurs. Haviv has a decade of experience excavating and hunting for dinosaurs in Montana, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona and North Carolina. He is currently naming a new dinosaur species and is interested in big picture questions about the paleoecology of dinosaurs. Haviv’s previous research experience was focused on documenting the biodiversity of a Cretaceous microvertebrate fossil assemblage, and quantifying shape variation among archosaurian teeth using 2D and 3D geometric morphometrics.

Haviv is passionate about engaging in opportunities to share paleontology with the public, specifically middle and high school students from disenfranchised and underprivileged backgrounds. He hopes to present science as a tangible, realistic and attainable career path for students facing adversity.

Dr. James Napoli

Research Adjunct

James Napoli’s research focuses on ontogenetic and individual variation in living and extinct species, and developing new analytical approaches for determining whether a newly discovered fossil belongs to a species new to science. His research spans animals both living and extinct, using the present as the key to understand the past, and the past as a lens to contextualize the present. James has named two new species of dinosaur (the ceratopsian Psittacosaurus amitabha and the dromaeosaurid ‘raptor’ Kuru kulla) and published research on mammals and lizards in addition to his work on dinosaurs. He has also participated in cross-disciplinary medical research, contributing methods used to study fossil bones and adapting them for use in the study and treatment of human cranial birth defects in collaboration with a group of plastic surgeons at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. James received his PhD at the Richard Gilder Graduate School of the American Museum of Natural History, an MS from Stony Brook University, and a BS in Geology and Biology from Brown University. At the Museum, James is focusing upon the Dueling Dinosaurs tyrannosaur, a specimen with great potential to answer enduring mysteries about the growth, development and evolution of the largest and most magnificent group of meat-eating dinosaurs to ever live. 

Project Manager, Cretaceous Creatures

Dr. Elizabeth Jones

Postdoctoral Researcher, NC State

Elizabeth Jones is a science historian, educator, speaker and author. Her research is interdisciplinary, focusing on the historical, philosophical and sociological aspects of science, specifically paleontology, to better understand how science works and impacts society. Currently, Elizabeth is the project manager for the Cretaceous Creatures project, a new public science project that engages 8th grade science teachers and students in discovering and identifying microfossils from the Hell Creek Formation, Montana, where the Dueling Dinosaurs were found. She manages the design and delivery of scientific content, educational materials, online resources, data management and evaluation methods for classrooms across the state, country, and abroad. Elizabeth handles communication among teachers, classrooms, paleontologists, educators, partners and funders. 

Elizabeth holds a PhD in Science and Technology Studies from University College London, an MA in History and Philosophy of Science from Florida State University, and BAs in History and Philosophy from North Carolina State University. Throughout her career, she has acquired over a decade of experience working with paleontologists and geneticists in both the field and the lab, as well as working with the public in science museums in the US and UK. Her first book, “Ancient DNA: The Making of a Celebrity Science,” (Yale University Press, 2022) is a popular science nonfiction book about the rise of ancient DNA research and how “Jurassic Park” influenced the scientists in search of genetic material from fossils. Her next book projects include a popular science nonfiction on the historical controversy surrounding the commercial collection of dinosaur fossils in the US, as well as a children’s illustrated adventure series on paleontology.

Research Assistant, Cretaceous Creatures

John Kanipe

John Kanipe is a graduate student at North Carolina State University and a resident graduate student at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. His research interests include evolutionary ecology and a systems approach to paleobiology. He is also interested in the philosophy of science and student learning, particularly how students learn and think about fossils. Prior to joining the Cretaceous Creatures team, John earned his MA in Science Education from North Carolina State University and has used his background to help align the project’s goals with learning objectives from the North Carolina Essential Science Standards. Currently, he is working to verify the identifications of hundreds of microfossils that students have submitted as part of the Cretaceous Creatures project. John has also participated in three field seasons, including the Hell Creek Formation, Montana, where he helped collect hundreds of pounds of fossil-rich sediment to be used in classrooms across the state, country, and beyond.