Natural History Museums

I have worked in several major natural history museums, including the Canadian Museum of Nature, Royal Ontario Museum, and the Field Museum of Natural History. As a result, I have a breadth of experience that includes not only research, but also collections and exhibits experience. Details of my contributions and experience in these areas are provided below. I also have considerable public outreach experience in museum settings, though that particular aspect is expanded upon in the site section on public engagement.

Museum Exhibits - Consultation & Content Development

I acted as a technical advisor and content developer for multiple natural history exhibitions during my postdoc at the Field Museum of Natural History.

Below are descriptions of the exhibit projects I have worked on, with a particular emphasis on the 'SUE's World' exhibit, a permanent gallery at the Field Museum:

January 2019 - December 2019: Advising on mini-exhibit in Field Museum main hall (Stanley Field Hall) which provides additional information/context to the nearby mounted skeleton cast of the titanosaur Patagotitan.

​January 2019 - December 2019: Advising on updates to the Field Museum’s permanent fossil exhibitions (‘The Evolving Planet’). Range of advised material is broad, and includes a display on dinosaur feather & flight evolution, and new content on field and collection methods in palaeontology.

December 2018 - July 2020: Advising and developing content for ‘Traveling SUE’ exhibit at Field Museum. Consists of similar tasks to role in ‘SUE's World’ exhibit, though modified to allow for travel. Major differences when compared to the permanent exhibit are the inclusion of a life-sized reconstruction of SUE the T. rex (made by Blue Rhino Studios) to augment the cast skeletons in the exhibit, and a new mural by Beth Zaiken. Also changed is the addition of a considerable introductory section focused on providing the visitor a background on 'deep-time', the ecosystems and environment of the Mesozoic (both in how they change throughout the duration of the Mesozoic, and also how they contrast with current environments), major mass extinctions, and on the phylogenetic and evolutionary history of dinosaurs. The reason for this addition is that the permanent SUE exhibit is prefaced by the majority of the permanent fossil galleries of the Field Museum ('The Evolving Planet'), thus providing visitors with the necessary background/contextual information, which would be otherwise lacking in the case of the traveling exhibition. Pictured below are the life-size reconstruction and the mural, for which I was the primary scientific consultant. For details on the original SUE the T. rex exhibit at FMNH and my role in its design and implementation, see further below, following the images.

Mural by Beth Zaiken produced for the Traveling Sue exhibit. I acted as primary scientific advisor on the scene, and particularly on the appearance of the vertebrates displayed

January 2018 - December 2018: Provided technical consultation and developed content for ‘SUE's World’ exhibit at the Field Museum. Involved anatomical and biomechanical consultations for reconstructions and animations, selection of specimens for Hell Creek Formation palaeoecology component, development of visual content and sections of exhibit text, assisted in re-mounting of skeleton of ‘Sue’ (FMNH PR 2081, Tyrannosaurus rex) from previous location in museum, etc. The goal of the exhibit was to both update the existing 'Sue' skeletal mount to be more scientifically accurate, to provide considerable contextual information regarding the life of this organism and the world it inhabited (and consequently the palaeoecology and environment of the Late Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation), and to discuss the scientific research being performed on this specimen and how it represents a fossil of considerable value to multiple research programs.

The exhibit itself is broken into several sub-components, including: 

• the discovery and excavation of the fossil
• previous and ongoing scientific research that has included 'Sue'
• the re-mounted skeleton itself and a light projection-mapping show highlighting several interesting aspects of the skeleton (completeness, anatomical features, pathologies, etc)
• a series of CGI vignettes in which a reconstructed 'Sue' interacts with their environment (hunting Edmontosaurus, attempting to subdue a Triceratops and being injured, feeding on an Ankylosaurus carcass and drinking water)
• a series of cases features fossils found from the Hell Creek Formation (and in many cases the same quarry as 'Sue'), discussing the broader palaeoecology and environment in which this organism resided.
• fossil skulls of major herbivorous dinosaurs, including Edmontosaurus and Triceratops, with discussion of feeding and predatory behaviour of T. rex.

Working with RCI to remount the 'Sue' skeleton

Entrance to the exhibit

Projection mapping allows specific skeletal elements to be highlighted

A skull of Triceratops

A skull of Edmontosaurus (E. regalis, used because the FMNH does not have a similarly excellent skull of E. annectens)

Working with Atlantic Productions, we created CGI imagery for use in the exhibit panels and videos

Offset screens displaying the various video vignettes

The original skull of 'Sue' on display near the front of the hall, in a section about scientific research

Cases featuring fossils of other plants and animals either found from the same quarry as 'Sue', or that form part of the broader Hell Creek Formation palaeocommunity.

Close-up view of fossil leaf, ray tooth, and turtle skull

Display panel discussing scientific studies that have involved 'Sue'

Multi-sensory interactives

Banners on the exterior of the FMNH shortly after the opening of the exhibit.

The 'Sue' exhibit team (photo courtesy of J. Weinstein)

Full listing of contributors to the 'Sue' exhibit

Pin made for staff to commemorate the opening of the new 'Sue' exhibit.

Curation & Collection Management

In addition to advising on the development of major exhibitions, I also have considerable experience in the curation, conservation, and management of museum collections and fossil materials.

I have worked as a collections technician in the fossil collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature, and was responsible for the ID and cataloguing of vertebrate fossils, the repair of damaged materials, and conducted a major replacement of the support pallets for the majority of the specimens in the oversize vertebrate fossil collections. Through this I became experienced with the handling, care, and long-term storage of vertebrate fossil materials.

​During this time I also assisted in the preparation and installation of a blue whale skeleton in the CMN's Water Gallery, assisted in the transportation of minerals for the Earth Gallery, assessed multiple reported fossil discoveries by members of the public, and assisted in the selection and presentation of fossil collections materials during the Royal Visit to the CMN in 2010.

During my graduate work at the Royal Ontario Museum and my postdoctoral work at the Field Museum, I have assisted in the repair and removal/replacement of fossil materials from exhibits, catalogued and ID'd materials for the permanent collections of both institutions, assisted in the development and implementation of destructive sampling protocols and methods, and received training on the use of the K-EMu collection management database software family. I also co-organized a symposium on best practices for destructive sampling of collections materials at SPNHC 2019.

Photo courtesy of K. Shepherd / M. Currie

Below are some images showcasing some of my work in destructive analyses of dinosaur fossils, our SPNHC symposium, and the handling and curation of museum specimens.

Top left photo courtesy of W. Simpson; Bottom row of photos courtesy of J. Weinstein