There are 26 Topical & more-to-come Discipline Sessions at GSA Connects 2023 that are endorsed by the Paleo Society! 

Reviewed by Bruce Rothschild (Indiana University Health, formerly Carnegie Museum of Natural History)

Reviewed by Phil Novack-Gottshall (Benedictine University, Lisle, IL)

Reviewed by Andrej Spiridonov (Vilnius University, Lithuania & Nature Research Centre, Lithuania)

Books available for review announcement

The following volumes are available to Paleontological Society members in exchange for writing a review in Priscum. Reviews should be informative, engaging, and 400–800 words long. The tone can be informal and casual, appropriate to recommending a book to colleagues. Reviews are expected to be returned within six months after receipt. Past book reviews can be found in past issues of Priscum at https://www.paleosoc.org/priscum-newsletter and https://www.paleosoc.org/blog. Reviewers must be a current member of the Paleontological Society before beginning review. If you are interested in reviewing one of these texts, please contact Book Reviews Editor Phil Novack-Gottshall.

Reviewed by Ephraim Nissan (London, England)

Reviewed by James Farlow (Purdue University Fort Wayne, Fort Wayne, IN)

Reviewed by Phil Novack-Gottshall (Benedictine University, Lisle, IL)

The Paleontological Society is now soliciting for nominations for the inaugural DEEP Award!  

The Paleontological Society is soliciting applications for a Student Representative to Council. 

Eligibility: We encourage applications from paleontology graduate students who are early-mid stage in their graduate programs from all backgrounds and institutions, particularly those that have historically been under-represented on the Paleontological Society Council.

The Role: Student Representatives serve as voices for student needs in the Society and play leading roles in student activities including organizing student events at the annual Geological Society of America conference. Student Representatives are further encouraged to develop and lead new student initiatives. In this role, students gain knowledge of the inner workings of an international organization and experience in professional service.

The selected Student Representative (who will start their role in the fall of 2023) will join current Student Representative Sam Ocon and serve a two-year term (Fall 2023–Fall 2025). Student Representatives attend two virtual Council meetings per year (one during fall and the other during spring).

Application Requirements:

Please fill out the google form and provide each question with long-answer responses (at least one paragraph per question) to be considered for this position.

Reviewed by Ephraim Nissan (London, England)

This lavishly illustrated, large-format book provides a full-rounded treatment of all extant penguin species, but it also is an eye-opener on fossil and subfossil penguin species. Part 1 is by Tui de Roy, and covers their life cycle, the “jackass” group of braying penguins, Antarctica’s three long-tailed species (the Adélie, chinstrap, and Gentoo penguins), the crested penguins, the rockhoppers, the Little penguin of Oceania, and finally the King and Emperor penguins of Antarctica.

Julie Cornthwaite authored Part 3, surveying all species one by one, in profiles sharing their structure. Part 2 instead, “Science and Conservation”, is edited by Mark Jones, and comprises 17 chapters (all but the first, of just two pages) by different scholars. For example, “March of the Fossil Penguins” by Daniel Ksepka (pp. 158–159), and Matthew Shawkey’s “Penguin Colours and Pigments” (pp. 162–163), which also discusses their evolution (a glitch chopped off its last line): “melanosomes from [the 36-million-year-old] Inkayacu [giant penguin found mummified (p. 159)] were smaller than those from modern penguins, and more similar in size and shape to those of other birds” (p. 162): perhaps larger melanosomes make feathers stiffer. “Second, Inkayacu’s plumage lacked countershading. Instead it had a brown underside and grey back” (162). Seals were diversifying, and countershading may have evolved as a response to increasing predation pressure.

Reviewed by Andrej Spiridonov (Vilnius University, Lithuania & Nature Research Centre, Lithuania)

We are delighted to announce the newest Paleontological Society Fellows:  Annalisa Berta (San Diego State University), Carlos Jaramillo (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute), Johnny Waters (University of West Georgia and Appalachian State University), and Lisa White (UC Museum of Paleontology). 

Annalisa Berta (San Diego State University) is recognized for her numerous wide-ranging and impactful contributions to our understanding of marine mammals, including their anatomy, physiology, ontogeny, sensory biology, phylogenetics, and evolutionary history; for her outstanding record of teaching and mentorship; and for her extensive service to the profession, including her pioneering efforts promoting the work of women in paleontology most notably through her book Rebels, Scholars, Explorers: Women in Vertebrate Paleontology.

The Paleontological Society recognizes the importance of educational and research practices that foster diversity and inclusion. We value the contribution of diverse opinions, strategies, and experiences at the sessions, short courses, and workshops that we sponsor at meetings of the Geological Society of America and the North American Paleontological Convention and other conferences (such as SACNAS and NABG) as they are an integral part to the advancement of our field. However, many of our colleagues who work extensively on inclusive educational and research practices might not qualify for research-based funding for conference travel from their home institutions. In addition, colleagues from groups underrepresented in paleontology, in a career transition (between undergrad and grad, grad to post-doc, post-doc to position), or in adjunct, teaching, museum, or part-time positions are often the most vulnerable and most likely to leave paleontology and science. It is crucial that we ensure that these members are able to attend and participate in our meetings as well as network with community members who can provide the support and mentorship that is needed in these critical transitions or positions. Thus, the Paleontological Society is offering competitive conference travel grants to help offset the expenses PS members from underrepresented and/or at-risk groups who would be unable to attend these meetings without travel support.

Funding Amount
$1200 per award for in person attendees and $250 per award for online attendees

There are 20+ Topical & 8 Discipline Sessions at GSA Connects 2022 that are endorsed by the Paleo Society! 

T102. Comings and Goings of Proterozoic Global Glaciations - (Posters Sunday a.m.)
Leaders: Bing Shen; Maoyan Zhu; and Xianguo Lang
Endorsers: Geochemical Society; GSA Geobiology and Geomicrobiology Division; Paleontological Society
Description: This session focuses on global glaciations and geology-geobiology in the Proterozoic.

Ecological Models Applied to Fossil Data

When: Saturday, October 8^th from 8am to 5pm.
Where: Denver, CO Convention Center 
Who:  Everyone interested in learning about how to use and understand niche modeling methods for paleontological datasets. 
Registration: Not required, Free to everyone!
Instructors: Cori Myers, Alycia Stigall, Erin Saupe, Marlon Cobos, Jenny McGuire, Hannah Owens

- Roy E. Plotnick, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago.

In the old days, before the advent of the internet and the personal computer, you kept up on the scientific literature by going to the library and examining the stacks of new journals that had just arrived. If you wanted to pursue an area of research and write your own paper, you searched the library stacks, guided by the list of references in the back of published papers and the huge published volumes, such as the Bibliography and Index of Geology, that catalogued the papers on the subject. You may also find out, perhaps guided by more senior scientists, that there were certain critical papers in your area that you needed to read. 

All this, of course, has changed. You can receive emails from journals announcing newly published, or about to be published papers. The development of massive online reference databases, such as Web of Science, GeoRef, and Google Scholar have made searching for papers on a topic lightning fast, with the ability to immediately download the publication and enter it into a personal bibliographic database. And most usefully, the databases have links to both the papers in the paper’s reference list and those that, in turn, cite the publication in question, with each papers number of citations being tabulated. To a first approximation, one can assume that the more citations a paper has, the more important it is to read. 

The Paleontological Society Journals are seeking two Editorial Interns to attend the 2022 Geological Society of America Annual Meeting and assist our editorial boards in recruiting new paper submissions. Interns will get an inside look at academic publishing and assist Journal of Paleontology and Paleobiology in diversifying our content and our authorship. Each intern will receive a $2000 stipend to cover the costs of attending the 2022 GSA Annual Meeting. 

Program Description
Prior to the GSA meeting, and with guidance from the editorial boards for Paleobiology and Journal of Paleontology, interns will scan abstracts for presentations that fit within the scope of the two journals, have the potential to be high impact, and are written by students and early career scientists. Interns will then attend presentations and write up short summaries of promising submissions for each editorial board. Journal editors can then contact presenters and encourage them to submit to the appropriate journal.

The Paleontological Society has entered into agreements with two services to facilitate the reporting of alleged violations to our Code of Conduct. These go under the names of NAVEX and Vault.

Both services have secure web-based portals that are now accessible from the PS website. Instructions on how to access and use these platforms can be found here.

The year 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark 1972 paper by Niles Eldredge and Stephen J. Gould that introduced the concept of punctuated equilibrium to the fields of paleontology and evolutionary biology.

In honor of this anniversary, I am conducting a survey-based study to better understand how people define the concept of punctuated equilibrium and to what extent they use it in their research and teaching.