Paleontological Society Outreach and Education Grant

The Paleontological Society Outreach and Education Grant provides support to our members for programs and activities involving educational out reach and community engagement. Potential fundable projects include, but are not limited to, field trips to fossil sites and/or museums for teachers and pre-college students, educator training and curriculum development, participation in local community initiatives, development of educational materials for classroom use, and website or other online material development.

The subject matter covered by outreach proposals may fall within any sub-discipline of paleontology/paleobiology. Particularly encouraged are projects that (1) include opportunities for undergraduate students to become involved in paleontological outreach to younger students or the public, (2) create new educational “apps” or other technologies, and/or (3) produce educational materials that could be distributed more widely through the PS website.

Prior recipients of a PS Outreach and Education Grant must wait one year before being eligible to submit another application (e.g., a 2021 grant recipient must wait until 2023 to submit another proposal). Prior recipients must also submit their required final report on the funded project before being eligible to apply for a second award.

Amount of Grant

The Paleontological Society will issue grants of up to $2,500 each; the number of awards to be made is flexible.

Deadline: March 2nd
Recipients will be notified May 4th
Grantees are required to submit a follow-up project report by March of the next year

Who May Apply?

Applicants must be members of the Paleontological Society at the time of application. Graduate student applicants should provide documentation of a professional member’s willingness to serve as advisor for the project.

How to Apply:

Applications for a PS Outreach and Education Grant must include:

1. A project proposal, three to five pages in length, which must include:

• a project title
• names and contact addresses of participating personnel
• the proposer’s Paleontological Society Member Number
• a brief synopsis of the project
• target audience (e.g., grade level, in-service teachers, the public)
• project description
• goals of the project
• expected outcomes (including how they will be assessed)
• timeline
• a discussion of the significance to the science education community.

2. A detailed, itemized budget with justification of the uses of the PS Education & Outreach funds. We cannot pay overhead or indirect costs. Matching funds from other sources are strongly encouraged.
3. A one page CV for each of the project personnel.

All applications must be submitted electronically by completing and submitting this form. The cover sheet, research proposal, and CV must be sent in one PDF file as a form attachment.

PS Education and Outreach Coordinator

Pedro Monarrez
University of California, Los Angeles
Email

Review Process

Grantees will be selected by a subcommittee of the Paleontological Society’s Education & Outreach Committee. Evaluation criteria include the goals, significance, feasibility, creativity, and likely impact of the project, and the soundness of the budget. Recipients will be notified by May 4.

Grant Award Procedures

Grant awards can be made directly to individuals or to institutions. Please be advised that if a grantee opts to receive the funds directly, the Paleontological Society is required to issue an IRS 1099 form at the end of the calendar year. The grant funds may or may not be taxable; grantees must make that determination themselves. The Society cannot offer tax advice. Grantees are required to submit a follow-up project report by March 2020 detailing the project’s outcomes. Details on the reporting requirements will be sent to all grantees.

If you have any questions about applications or the submission process for grants, please contact [email protected]

2024 Awardees

Ian Cost
Dinosaurs in the City: Bringing Dinosaurs Into Underserved Schools In Urban Environments

Benjamin Francischelli
Megalodon's Graveyard

Romina Gonzalez
Unveiling Argentina's Prehistoric Giants: A Journey through Dinosaur Discoveries

Emily Inman
Measuring the Efficacy of Pop-Up Museum Displays in the Stan Community

Julian E. Correa-Narvaez
Finalizing Wind River Reservation Outreach: Bringing forth STEAM beyond concept

Edwin Alberto Cadena Rueda
Zapatoca Colombia, a sea of fossils‚ the exhibit.

Lisa D. White
Day at the Museum: A day-long event bringing museum science to Berkeley and Oakland communities

Jay Zambito
Pre-College Student and Science Educator Engagement with the Beloit College Paleontological Collection

2023 Awardees

Lexi Bolger 
Paleo Podcasts: Using Podcasts to Evaluate Student Learning

Michelle Gannon
Am immersive Paleontological and Geoscience Field Experience for Underrepresented Female High School Students

BaileyJorgensen
Paleo-Robotics: Student-driven Experiment in Underwater Paleontology

Katie Maloney
Rocks & Fossils in Your Backyard: A Niagara Escarpment Illustrated Children’s Book and Teacher’s Guide

Maria Munoz-Granados
GeoLchat Fossil Edition: A Bilingual Science Communication Project in Paleontology Using Social Media

Ari Rudenko
Ghosts of Hell Creek Choreology Lab: Towards and Experimental Cross-Cultural Dance-Paleontology Pedagogy

Wendy Taylor
Oceans of Time: Teaching Young Learners about Climate Change, Evolution, and Deep Time with Ammonite Paleo Puppets

Undraa Tumen and Taormina Lepore
Translation of University of California Museum of Paleontology Evolution 101 Resources into Mongolian Language in Collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs

2022 Awardees

Erynn Johnson and colleagues
Interdisciplinary learning through the evolution of mollusk shell geometry

Melissa Kemp and colleagues 
Capacity Building for the NEET Young Innovators STEM Camp: using Caribbean paleontology as a tool for place-based experiential learning in Jamaica

Stephanie Killingsworth and colleagues 
Chewing on Change: Bringing Fossil Horses into Title I Schools to Learn About Macroevolution

Bronwyn Mayo and colleagues 
Wenas Mammoth Foundation's Summer Education Program

Amy Moe-Hoffman 
Mobile Museum Curiosity Carts: Bringing Paleontology to North Mississippians

Michael Sandy and colleagues
Integrating paleontology into Bulgarian classrooms; an inquiry-based STEM workshop for teachers of grades 2-8, and development of resources

Colin D. Sproat and colleagues
Exploring Fossils Field Trip Program 

Elena Stiles and colleagues
Highlighting Contributions of Latin American Women in Paleontology Through Educational and Communication Tools 

2021 Awardees

Noelia Beatriz Carmona and Juan José Ponce
The history of the Earth and life through experiments: Science Club for Children

Christopher Dean and colleagues
PalaeoParty! - live streaming as a novel form of science communication

Michael Gibson and Kari Hughes
Cretaceous Coon Creek Lagerstätte PaleoCamp (CCCL PaleoCamp): Training master teachers

Sarah Jacquet and colleagues
Bridging the gap: creating a virtual field environment to uncover midwestern geologic history

Gabriel-Philip Santos and Brittney Stoneburg
Fossil Friday Chats livestream show

Sandra Schachat and colleagues
An accessible, modular paleo-art learning experience for children of all ages

Sarah Sheffield and colleagues
Time Scavengers undergraduate science communication summer virtual internship program

Nicholas Spano and colleagues
Where the Wild Things Were: An online atlas of charismatic animal losses from the Pleistocene to today

Wendy Taylor and colleagues
Palaeoscience storytelling using puppetry: puppet planet shadow stage

2020 Awardees

Juan Carrillo, Luz Helena Oviedo, Edwin Cadena, Carlos Jaramillo
Developing Palaeontological Tourism and Education in Colombia

Crystal Cortez, Ashley Lothyan, Sarah Harty
Bringing San Bernardino County Paleontological Collections to Local Schools

Lilia Popova, Pavlo Goldin, Bogdan Ridush, Svitozar Davydenko
Paleosites of the Dnieper Area in the Context of the Development of Local Town Museums

Shamindri Tennakoon, Carmi Thompson
After School at the Museum: Hands-on Learning Experiences for Elementary and Middle School Students

Christy Visaggi, Robert Wilson, Leonardo Maduro-Salvarrey, Nikki Simon, Cameron Muskelly, Megan Rich
Telling Stories at the Intersection of Paleontology and Culture

2019 Awardees

Nina L. Baghai-Riding
Improving scientific education in the Mississippi Delta through paleontology

Matthew Borths
Making the primate family tree tangible

Diana Elizabeth Fernández
It’s popcorn time!: educational videos with activities for understanding evolution and paleontological heritage in high school

Nigel Hughes
Trilobite fossils on mountain tops: a paleontological outreach project in Myanmar

Carlos Martinez-Perez
The Hospital’s fossil

Gregory J. Smith
Fossil finders at Fort Negley: Discovery of fossils and Nashville’s ancient environments by families and elementary school students

Ellen Thomas
Using natural history collections in liberal arts education: a new look at an old mosasaur

Lisa White
3D digitization of coastal geology for scientific study, public outreach, and K-12 education

2018 Awardees

Adriane R. Lam, Jennifer E. Bauer
Time Scavengers: A website to educate the public about climate change and evolution and conduct research into best education and outreach practices

Jacalyn M. Wittmer, Naomi Wasserman
Digging into Dinosaur Behavior: Development of an interdisciplinary and field-based dinosaur dig site for PreK-8 education and outreach at the Orpheum Children’s Science Museum

Jocelyn A. Sessa, Rosie L. Oakes, Jacqueline Genovesi
Summer was made for adventure: paleontological and geological field experience for minority high school girls

Larry Taylor, Lisa White
Museum Outreach to Local Community Colleges as a Means of Increasing Diverse Students’ Access to Paleontology

Laura Vietti, Tyler Kerr
Augmenting the Reality of Wyoming’s Rich Fossil Record

Marta Toran, Andrew Heckert
“Deep Time Toolbox” Workshop for Elementary School Teachers in Rural North Carolina

Mary Droser, Kylie Piper
Ediacara Learning Center: Bringing Ediacara Fossils to the Local Communities

Ryan J. Haupt, Juliana K. Olsson, John P. Giroir
Wild and Wonderful Fossil Hunting Field Trip for the Delegates of the National Youth Science Camp: Developing a Comprehensive and Repeatable Program to Showcase Appalachian Earth Science to Recent High School Graduates

Ryan Ridder, Eleanor Gardner
Wanderers Through Time: A “Council’s Own” Badge for Girls Scouts of Northeast Kansas / Northwest Missouri

2017 Awardees

Austin Hendy, Katy Estes-Smargiassi, Lindsay Walker, Molly Porter
PROJECT PALEO: Marine Invertebrate Fossils of Southern California

Ed Robeck
Paleontology Play Space: Using technology to put the public in the paleontological picture

Gregory Wilson
The Discoveries in Geosciences (DIG) Field School Helping teachers inspire students with real science in the classroom

Haley O’Brien, Paul M. Gignac, Holly N. Woodward Ballard
Perceived Contrasts: A STE(A)M Partnership Between Oklahoma: Paleontologists, Anatomists, and Artists

Jason Schein, Rick Schmidt, Jason Poole, Brittany Malinowski, Laura Rooney
Dinosaur Treasures In Our Backyard

Jordan Bestwick, Christopher Nedza
What did it eat?: Presenting quantitative dietary analysis in palaeobiology to a general audience at the Yorkshire Fossil Festival, UK

Kerry Howard
Using 3D Maker’s Space Equipment to Create Nevada Fossil Replicas for Hands–‐on Investigations

Trisha Smrecak, Maggie Johnston, Ashley Allen
Who Walked Where When? A Place-Based, Deep Time Curriculum for the Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site

Warren Allmon, Robert Ross, Don Duggan-Haas, Maureen Bickley, Helaina Blume
Daring to Dig: Women in Paleontology Education Materials

2016 Awardees

Florida Fossil Hunters club and the FOSSIL Project team
Women in Paleontology Day

Scott Schaefer
Linking Lecture to Learning (L3): Cultivating Scientific Thinking in Urban Schools

2015 Awardees

Massimo Bernardi, Paolo Cocco
EXTRILON, a Trilobite Experience to Understand Extinctions, for Everyone

Victoria Chraibi, Kathleen French, Annie Mumgaard
Paleontology in Rural Schools: Distance Learning through Virtual Field Trips at the University of Nebraska State Museum

Ellen Currano, Claire Belcher
The Bearded Lady Project Visits the PaleoFire Lab and Lyme Regis

Andrew Czaja
Exploring Invisible Worlds with Elementary Students Using Homemade Microscopes

Joseph Frederickson, Janessa Doucette-Frederickson, Joshua Cohen
Oklahoma Educators Evolve! Addressing Science Education Issues in Oklahoma Schools: A Hands-On Learning Outreach Project

David Levering, Sternberg Museum
Sternberg Museum Paleontology Camps and the Kansas Fossil Map: Teaching Principles of Basic Paleontology Fieldwork and Research Skills Using Outdoor Science Lessons and Fossil Geospatial Data

David Meyer, Brenda Hunda
Trammel Fossil Park, Sharonville, Ohio: A Unique Resource for Field-Based Education in Paleontology

Stephen Rowland
Bringing the Pleistocene Megafauna into the Middle School and High School Science Classroom

2014 Awardees

David Fastovsky, David Upegui
Phylogenetic Systematics: Getting Relationships Right in High School

Randall Irmis, Jessica Seppi, Natalie Toth, Matt Whittaker
ROCKS – Real Opportunities to Connect Kids with Scientists

Benjamin Kotrc, Beaudry Kock
Earth in Sixty Seconds: An iOS-based game about geological time and the history of life on Earth

Ellen Thomas, Pincelli Hull, Andrea Motto
Foraminifera and Changing Cenozoic Climate

Christy Visaggi
Mapping Georgia Through Deep Time: Exploring Fossils and the History of Life using Place-Based Learning in K-12

Jory Weintraub
SACNAS field trip to the Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits