Natural History Museums

I have a long history of work in natural history museums, including the Canadian Museum of Nature, Royal Ontario Museum, the Field Museum of Natural History, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and Auburn University Museum of Natural History.

As a result, I have a breadth of experience that includes not only research, but also collections and exhibits experience. Brief summaries 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 have worked as a technical advisor and content developer for multiple natural history exhibitions during my postdoc at the Field Museum of Natural History. These include working as one of the primary advisors on the permanent 'SUE the T. rex' exhibit and associated re-mounting of the SUE (FMNH PR 2081) skeleton. The latter involved changes to the posture of the skeleton (re-positioning one of the hindlimbs that was previously in an anatomically incorrect orientation, adjusting the ribs slightly, re-positioning the pectoral girdle to accommodate the now-added furcula, and most notably the addition of the gastralia to the skeletal mount), and the exhibit itself consists of displays focused on the skeleton, its discovery and research history, a light projection-mapping display of notable aspects of the anatomy, and displays related to broader ecosystem of the Hell Creek Formation. Following this I also worked as primary advisor on the Traveling version of the SUE exhibit, which largely reproduced the content of the main exhibit, but with material re-focused into a series of modules related to sub-components of the broader ecosystem, alongside advising on the creation of a new mural by Beth Zaiken and advising on various aspects of a life-size reconstruction of SUE by Blue Rhino Studies. I also played additional advisory roles on some of the updates to the permanent fossil gallery (Evolving Planet), and several mini-exhibits and teacher-kits. Since leaving the Field Museum, I've also played smaller advisory roles or contributed content to exhibit projects at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the Royal British Columbia Museum. Below are images from some of the exhibit projects I've worked on:
Picture
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

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 and botany collections of the Canadian Museum of Nature, assisted in curatorial and collections/conservation work throughout my PhD (at the ROM) and postdoctoral work (at FMNH and NCMNS), and currently work as Curator of Paleontology at the Auburn University Museum of Natural History.

I've also assisted in the development of desctructive sampling approaches and proposal/assessment structures at several museums, and co-chaired a symposium on best practices in destructive sampling at the 2019 meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections.
As a collections tech at the CMN ~2010. 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
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