Presentation of the 2011 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to C. Kevin Boyce

Abstract

Fellow paleontologists, I first came to know Kevin Boyce around the turn of the century, when, as a graduate student at Harvard, he was working out a novel scheme to characterize leaf morphology. It was clear from the get-go that this was someone to watch. Kevin's mentor Andy Knoll has sent many first-rate paleontologists into the world, but this was one of those cases where the advisor just needs to stand out of the way and let the student go full-tilt. Already as a student, Kevin had the vision and drive to work independently. And, like many a young scholar seeking to avoid distractions at the office, he wrote his Ph.D. thesis sitting at home. But he used an additional ‘trick’: he always wore a necktie while writing, to keep himself disciplined. Prior to doing his Ph.D. at Harvard, Kevin earned not one but two bachelor's degrees from CalTech (where, among other things, he worked with Joe Kirschvink on the sensitivity of honeybees to magnetic fields). His dual degrees might not stand out in these days of hypercompetitive undergrads pursuing triple and quadruple majors, but I've always been struck by the fact that he has a Bachelor of Science … in Literature . Now, if you ask Kevin about this, he'll respond that CalTech only gives B.S. degrees regardless of the field, but I know from talking with him about a whole range of topics that he approaches everything with the same imagination and insight that he brings to paleontology. For example, he has thoroughly studied the King James Bible and has developed a reinterpretation of the Old Testament … as a comedy . His interest in literature goes far beyond reading—he writes poetry that has been described as beautiful. In fact, he wanted to become a writer, …