Schuchert Award Research Articles

The 2011 recipient of the Brady Medal: Dr John A. Barron

![][1] Dr John Barron is an internationally renowned expert in marine diatom taxonomy, biostratigraphy, palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1969 with a BS Geology degree and completed his doctoral research in Geology at UCLA, as a student of Helen N. Tappan, in 1974. John took up a position as a research geologist/micropalaeontologist for the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park, California in 1974 where he remains today as a Supervisory Research Geologist within the Volcano Science Center. Notably, he is the Survey’s internationally recognized expert on the climate of the past 15 000 years in the North Pacific area and on the climatic and glacial history of Antarctica during the past 65 million years. In 1984, John was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America and, in 1986, he was presented the Charles Schuchert Award by the Paleontological Society for excellence and promise in palaeontology. In 1994 he was awarded a US Department of Interior Meritorious Service Award by the USGS and, in 2005, was elected a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. John is the leading world authority on Cenozoic marine diatom biostratigraphy and evolution, having established and revised many biostratigraphic zonations during his 40+ year career, and described numerous new diatom species, such as Actinocyclus fryxellae , Thalassiosira gersondei and T. mahoodii (Baldauf & Barron, 1991). He has repeatedly demonstrated the value of marine diatoms for solving a range of important geological problems for the entire diatom fossil record (Cretaceous to Holocene), particularly in areas such as the Southern Ocean where other microfossil groups are rare. A creative thinker, from the time of his first publication on Neogene ocean palaeotemperatures (Barron, 1973) John was, in many respects, a leader in the field … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif

Presentation of the 2010 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Philip C. J. Donoghue

Ladies and gentlemen, friends and colleagues, the winner of the 2010 Charles Schuchert Award is Professor Philip Donoghue of the University of Bristol. In the natural progression of our personal lives, the transition from young snot to old fart is so gradual that one tends not to recognize it, least of all in oneself. Most of us—those further along in their careers— have passed through the stage of young, promising paleontologist to become middle-aged promising paleontologists. Not so Phil Donoghue. I first met him when he was a graduate student at the University of Leicester. We got into a discussion about the nature of conodonts and certain pet ideas of mine that I had published. Phil did not agree with me so he went down in my book as a young snot. Soon thereafter, he published a ground-breaking, paradigm-changing paper, together with Peter Forey and Dick Aldridge, on the phylogenetic position of conodonts. Now, I realized that it was I who was the old fart. Phil had demonstrated that he had skipped the young-and-promising stage. He was, and is, young and delivering. Most people who start working on conodonts tend to remain with them. There is something about that mouth apparatus and the way in which it grabs hold of you. But Phil quickly tore himself loose from its grip. He quickly demonstrated an unquenchable zeal in attacking central issues in evolutionary paleontology, such as the origin of microstructures in teeth, the origin of teeth in jaws, the origin of jaws in vertebrates, the origin of vertebrates among animals, the origin of animals in the biosphere, and so on. I fear he will not stop until he has solved the question of the origin of life, the universe, and everything else. The breadth of questions he has already addressed …

Presentation of the 2010 Paleontological Society Medal to Bruce Runnegar

Presentation of the 2010 Paleontological Society Medal to Bruce Runnegar

Presentation of the 2008 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Michael S. Engel

It is a unique pleasure for me to acknowledge Michael Engel as the recipient of the 2008 Schuchert Award from the Paleontological Society. I have known Michael for at least 10 years. We have collaborated closely on several dozen papers and a major book, and during this time he has become my closest and most valued colleague. Michael is an incredibly prolific scientist. He has published more than 200 papers on living and extinct insects. What is astonishing is that he is only 37 years old! At such a young age, Michael Engel is arguably the world's …

Presentation of the 2009 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Thomas D. Olszewski

It is my sincere pleasure and honor to introduce Tom Olszewski as winner of the 2009 Charles Schuchert Award. Tom has made significant and lasting scientific contributions over the last decade, addressing a wide range of important questions on the nature of time-averaging and the formation of death assemblages, the question of ecological stability, the mathematical framework of richness and evenness, and the stratigraphy of Carboniferous cyclothems. Growing up just outside Philadelphia, the son of Polish immigrants, Tom's path to the Schuchert Award was neither straight nor inevitable. Tom recalls reading books by Stephen J. Gould in high school. This certainly piqued his curiosity. But it was not until he attended Franklin & Marshall College that his love for paleontology began to flourish. Searching for a work-study job, Tom thankfully avoided cafeteria work, ending up instead in Roger Thomas' lab, where he helped to catalogue fossils that Franklin & Marshall had inherited from the Princeton University collection. Tom claims that it was working with fossils and with a paleontologist that cemented his interest and he became a major in the geology program. Tom began graduate work at the University of Chicago, but chose to leave after a year and a half to pursue a Master's degree at Kansas State University. Tom acknowledges that he did not feel he was scientifically mature enough to pursue independent research at that time. Nonetheless, the short …

Presentation of the 2008 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to John Alroy

Presentation of the 2008 Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to John Alroy

PRESENTATION OF THE CHARLES SCHUCHERT AWARD OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO MICHAŁ KOWALEWSKI

Fellow paleontologists, I'm delighted and honored to present to you Michal Kowalewski, this year's recipient of our Society's Charles Schuchert Award, the award we give to recognize excellence and promise among paleontologists less than 40 years in age. I must take note here at the outset that I think that the late Toni Hoffman, Michal's MSc advisor at the University of Warsaw, would not have been surprised by Michal's receipt of this honor. Michal joined the U.S. community of paleontologists in 1991, when he started his PhD program at the University of Arizona. And it was in the spring of 1992 when Michal joined Sally Walker and I on our first trip to the Colorado River delta. We got a lot done on that trip: we discovered large populations of the lingulid brachiopods that would form an important part of Michal's dissertation, we examined the taphonomic effects of the Chevrolet Suburban, we founded the Centro de Estudios de Almejas Muertas, and Michal got his visa extended. Among the many challenges facing foreign students in the United States are the rules for visa extensions. In this case, the paperwork could not be done within the country; it required a visit to a U.S. consulate outside our borders. So, while still in Mexico, we put Michal, equipped with a Spanish vocabulary that ranged from “Buenos dias” all the way …

PRESENTATION OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY MEDAL TO RICHARD K. BAMBACH

In 1981, a short paper was published in Nature Magazine that was among the most influential paleontological publications of the past quarter century. Officially titled “Phanerozoic Marine Diversity and the Fossil Record,” the Consensus Paper, as it has come to be known, juxtaposed several depictions of the history of Phanerozoic marine taxonomic diversity, each developed with a different protocol for data collection. Despite these differences, a robust signal emerged at three different taxonomic levels, which the authors attributed to an unmistakable—and biologically meaningful—Phanerozoic trajectory. Of course, as many of us know, this paper played—and continues to play—a remarkable role in shaping the interests of paleontologists. The four authors of the Consensus Paper, Jack Sepkoski, Richard Bambach, Dave Raup, and Jim Valentine, were a remarkable bunch. They have long been among the giants of our profession, and, over the years, they have received a number of accolades that testify to their status. To list just some of their collective honors: two are members of the National Academy of Sciences; one was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences; two received the Schuchert Award; one received the medal of the University of Helsinki; and Richard, who already has the SEPM's Moore Medal in his trophy case, today becomes the third member of the group to be awarded the Paleontological Society Medal. So, as we honor Richard Bambach today, I think it also presents us with an opportunity to search for a common thread that might help us to understand the inherent characteristics of people who go on to especially creative careers in paleontology. Is there anything we can recognize as key characteristics—call them key adaptations if you'd like—shared by the members of this quartet? Well… of course, I've thought about this…. long and hard. They come from different socioeconomic backgrounds and …

SOCIETY RECORDS AND ACTIVITES

The meeting of the incoming Council of the Paleontological Society (PS) was called to order by President William I. Ausich at 1:30 pm on 4 November 2003 in the Cedar Room of the downtown Sheraton Hotel. Council members Patricia H. “Tricia” Kelley, David J. Bottjer, Mark E. Patzkowsky, Roger D. K. Thomas, Mark A. Wilson, Robert A. Gastaldo, Lisa E. Park, Russell D. “Tim” White, Dale A. Springer, Ann F. “Nancy” Budd, Jonathan M. Adrain, William A. DiMichele, Leif Tapanila, Christopher J. Crow, Scott M. Ritter, Rex A. Hanger, Craig Oyen and Neil E. Tibert were present. Also attending parts of the meeting were Richard K. Bambach, James W. “Whitey” Hagadorn, Roger L. Kaesler, Norman McLeod, Ronald L. Parsley, John Pojeta, Jennifer Rumford, and Judy Scotchmoor. Following a round of introductions, President Ausich welcomed new members to the Council. He once again acknowledged the contributions of those who had completed their terms of service, singling out Carl Stock's valuable leadership during his four years as Secretary. After noting the roles of several new and reelected members, he reported on several committee appointments. Rena M. Bonem will serve as the President's appointee on the Nominations Committee. Susan M. Kidwell and Brian T. Huber have been appointed to the Paleontological Society Medal Committee. The Schuchert Award Committee now includes Scott L. Wing and James O. Farlow. The members of the committee charged to conduct the annual audit are Marcus M. Key and Dale A. Springer. John R. Groves will chair the Stephen J. Gould Student Grants Committee; it also includes Kevin Padian, Tamra A. Schiappa and Gordon D. Wood. For the record, President Ausich noted the Society's gratitude to Mary Dawson, the Carnegie Museum, and especially to Ilona Weyers for their many years of service, in maintaining the Special Publications Office. The …

PRESENTATION OF THE CHARLES SCHUCHERT AWARD OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO STEVEN M. HOLLAND

It is a great pleasure and honor to introduce this year's Charles Schuchert Awardee, Steven M. Holland: another proud member in the grand lineage of the “Cincinnati school.” In summarizing the contributions of another prominent Cincinnatian, Kenneth Caster once wrote: “[he] was inducted into fossil-hunting early in his youth” in Cincinnati and went on to become a “distinguished professor of paleontology.” These words could well describe this year's Schuchert Award recipient, but they were not written about the awardee, but rather about the award's namesake. Charles E. Schuchert, as Caster noted, was “a self-made paleontologist,” whose formal education comprised “no more than six-grades of elementary education in the Cincinnati public schools.” (A testimony to the excellence of Cincinnati education in the late 1800s! Steve, of course, has had a bit more formal training than Schuchert did.) The Cincinnati area has spawned a disproportionate number of eminent paleontologists: Schuchert and his mentor E. O. Ulrich, Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, Ray Bassler, Auguste Foerste, and many more; including, more recently, Richard Bambach (though claiming no Cincinnatian inspiration!) and Steve Holland, both of whom are being honored this year. Steve grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason and went to Moeller High School in Montgomery (the same school, incidentally, attended by Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin: maybe Steve could have been a baseball player, but fortunately for us, he chose a “road even less travelled”). Already as a young student, Steve showed great promise and enthusiasm for paleontology. He also took an interest in people. He worked with local amateurs, including last year's Strimple Awardee, Steve Felton, and even volunteered his time at the Cincinnati Museum to help lead field trips with Dr. Richard Davis. This enthusiasm and propensity for teaching has characterized Steve's academic career. After he graduated Summa Cum Laude …

PRESENTATION OF THE CHARLES SCHUCHERT AWARD OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO BRUCE SMITH LIEBERMAN

I am very happy to be here today to present the citation to Bruce Lieberman for this year's Schuchert Award—for I view Bruce as one of the very best and brightest young paleontologists currently gracing our profession. I also value him as a terrific former student, now an esteemed colleague—and as a great guy and a very good friend. The first piece of correspondence I ever received from Bruce is dated 8 January 1986; Bruce wrote that he had taken Steve Gould's course at Harvard—and that course, plus Steve's personal encouragement, helped him to decide to turn his childhood fantasy (as he put it) of being a paleontologist into a reality. That letter got him up and running, as I was able to cobble together the necessary funds for Bruce to spend a chunk of the upcoming summer months cutting his newly erupting paleontological teeth on Devonian trilobites at the American Museum. Bruce was a winner from the get-go. What all paleontologists need to have is basic love-of-fossil—and Bruce quickly showed that he had that in spades. But he also had something …

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Bruce Smith Lieberman

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Bruce Smith Lieberman

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Loren E. Babcock

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Loren E. Babcock

PRESENTATION OF THE CHARLES SCHUCHERT AWARD OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO LOREN E. BABCOCK

Madam President, Members of The Paleontological Society Council, Society Members, and Guests; it is my distinct honor to present Dr. Loren E. Babcock, recipient of the Charles Schuchert Award for 2001. These presentations tend toward hyperbole; however, it is often difficult distinguishing between extravagant exaggeration and realistic statement of accomplishments when describing remarkable people. Loren is remarkable! Therefore, taking his place among the previous recipients of this award is richly deserved. Loren was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. His father was a high school science teacher who had a keen interest in geology and books. The family must have spent many weekends collecting in the classic western New York Devonian sections first monographed by James Hall—their house was full of fossils! Loren not only took to the hobby of fossil collecting but did so in the intense, systematic way that characterizes his career today. He had read the classic literature of James Hall, John Clarke, Amadeus Grabau, Charles Schuchert, and others before finishing high school, and became hooked on what has become a lifelong passion. Thus, it was quite logical that Loren was motivated to obtain a degree in geology. He …

PRESENTATION OF THE CHARLES SCHUCHERT AWARD OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY TO MICHAEL J. FOOTE

One of the things that I love about citation speeches at The Paleontological Society luncheon is that the audience invariably is provided with little snippets about the awardees that give us glimpses into who they really are. I thought I knew Dave Raup pretty well, but it wasn't until the GSA meeting in Salt Lake City a few years ago, when Dave received the PS medal, that I learned from Steve Stanley that Dave was once an accomplished piano player. I know that Charles Marshall is a skilled speaker, but, until last year in Denver, when Doug Erwin presented the citation for Charles for the Schuchert award, I had no idea that Charles was once an award-winning debater. This presents me with a challenge. What can I tell the audience assembled today, as well as future generations of paleontologists who will read this citation in JP, that will reveal for them a glimpse of the inner Mike Foote? In pondering this, it wasn't easy to come with anything particularly enlightening. Mike is a good cook, sometimes brews his own beer, is a decent softball player, and used to wear two earrings in one ear. But so what? These are all fine qualities, but seem fairly pedestrian by the standards of previous citations. But then I realized that there was one thing, which I learned only last Spring, that probably sets Mike apart from most people in this room, not to mention most previous Schuchert awardees: Mike owns his own BOWLING BALL. And shoes. If you ask him about this, he'll probably give you some story about having purchased them for five bucks at a garage sale, and how they …

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Michael J. Foote

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Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Charles R. Marshall

Presentation of the Charles Schuchert Award of the Paleontological Society to Charles R. Marshall

Response by Paul L. Koch: For the Schuchert Award, October 1998

Response by Paul L. Koch: For the Schuchert Award, October 1998

Presentation of the 1998 Charles Schuchert Award to Paul L. Koch

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J. John Sepkoski Jr. (1948-1999).

With Jack Sepkoski's sudden death from heart failure on May 1, 1999, paleontology lost one of its most important figures. In his 25–year career, Jack published more than 70 research articles, 15 of them in this journal, and an equal number of reviews, commentaries, and abstracts. He co-edited Paleobiology (1983–86), received the Schuchert Award (1983), and served as President of the Paleontological Society (1995–96). In 1997, he was elected to the Polish Academy of Sciences and in the same year received the Medal of the University of Helsinki. Further recognition would surely have followed but for his untimely death.