» Volunteering in the Division of Paleontology
Volunteering in the Division of Paleontology
The Division of Paleontology has many dedicated volunteers. If you're interested in volunteering for us, please visit the Volunteer Opportunities page on the AMNH public website.
Meet some of our volunteers...
Volunteer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Nasreen has been volunteering with the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology since late 2010. She also volunteers with the Mammalogy Department, where she is currently working on a primate re-housing project. Nasreen is also an employee in the Hall of Human Origins, Sackler Lab since 2010, where she teaches the public about human evolution, primate ancestors, fossil data, genetics, living primates; essentially an introduction to physical anthropology.
In the Paleontology Division, Nasreen works with cataloging and on an inventory of the fossil collection. Working behind the scenes has shown Nasreen that the massive fossil collection is truly inspiring and she hopes to continue with a career at the museum in collections and curating.
Lester has a BEE degree from CCNY and a MS degree from Rutgers University. He was a founder and president of an electronic instrument company. He sold his company and retired in 1994. His wife had retired from teaching two years earlier and started to volunteer at the AMNH in the Education Department. Since she needed a ride in, Lester also volunteered.
He initially worked on the Expedition Program, which was a specially designed, self-guided tour of 50 treasures of the AMNH. When that program ended, he worked for the Earth and Planetary Science Department, where he assisted in the fabrication of the Hall of Planet Earth. At the conclusion of that program, he became an Earth and Space Explainer, which he continues to this day. In 2001, he also joined the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology where he is currently working on the Digital Imaging Program for Fossil Invertebrates.
Priscilla has volunteered at the AMNH since September 2000 in both the Butterfly Vivarium and the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology.
She has a B.A. from Carleton College and a M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Priscilla spent two years in Côte d’Ivoire with the Peace Corps from 1962-1964 and worked from 1968 to 2000 for the New York office of the American University in Cairo, assisting American faculty and student recruiting and in office management.
Since 2000, Priscilla has also volunteered her time as a docent at the Central Park Zoo.
Volunteer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Donna has enjoyed working at the AMNH for over fifteen years. She is currently an assistant to the manager Live Exhibits, caring for butterflies, frogs, sugar gliders and silkworms, and volunteers in the Department of Mammalogy, working on the dry bat collection. She has also volunteered at the Information Desk in the Museum. In 2007, Donna began volunteering in Vertebrate Paleontology where she has worked on the Type Re-housing and Perissodactyl project, using her attention to detail, dependability and knowledge of collection care to great effect.
Dr. Conway first volunteered at AMNH in the Malacology collection of the Department of Invertebrates from February 2005 to May 2006. Her work there included cataloging the wet collection and other specimens, and rehousing specimens.
Mary began volunteering in The Department of Invertebrate Paleontology in June 2006. She catalogues and curates non-type specimens and has been involved in moving and organizing sections of the collection.
Mary has a B.A. from Carleton College and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Berkeley. In real life, she worked for over 20 years with John Wiley & Sons, where her most recent post was an executive editor for life science advanced texts and references. Mary also worked for over 10 years with C&P Press, as executive editor for technical references and databases, both print and electronic.
Joe has a degree in engineering and an M.S. from Long Island University. He began volunteering at the AMNH in 1999, after his retirement from Verizon. Joe works on data entry for the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology and also volunteers his time at the New York Botanical Garden.
Volunteer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Ari’s passion for science, particularly evolution, led him to the AMNH where he is currently researching ammonites for the Invertebrate Paleontology department and assisting in collections inventory for the Vertebrate Paleontology department.
No stranger to science or museums, Ari has been involved in both for several years. He’s worked as an explainer and program creator in NY, Czech Republic , Austria , Denmark , and the Netherlands
Volunteer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Andrew began volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History in 1999. Since then he has been able to take advantage of the some of the diverse opportunities a large science museum offers. For the Volunteer department he’s been an Earth & Space Explainer, a Tour Guide, a Fossil Explainer, and taken on other assorted assignments. For the Education department he’s worked as a classroom assistant, an explainer in temporary exhibits such as Einstein, Exploratorium, Dinosaurs, and Darwin, and has done occasional other jobs. For the Exhibition department he has helped make leaves and other botanicals as well as assisted with research and other tasks. He has given tours and provided other help for the Membership department. In addition to that long list, Andrew also volunteers his time for the AMNH Library.
In 2007, Andrew began working in the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology. He has made a significant contribution to the Type Re-housing and Perissodactyl grant, working tirelessly on building mounts for large specimens, entering element descriptions for the database, removing non-archival materials from the collections and replacing them with archival quality storage materials.
In real life, Mr. Epstein worked as an Air Traffic Controller for almost twenty-four years before retiring in 2006.
Kasia is a graduate of Hunter College with a degree in Anthropology and Studio Art and is currently enrolled in the Museum Anthropology Masters Degree Program at Columbia University.
She has been happily volunteering at the AMNH in the Vertebrate Paleontology collections since fall 2009, performing tasks such as fossil inventory, re-housing and cataloging. Kasia plans to work in the museum field when she graduates in fall of 2011.
Jim has been a Fossil Explainer at the AMNH since 1996. He says he first came to volunteer because he has an interest in Vertebrate Paleontology and had in fact, (“don’t tell anyone”) been coming to the Museum as a visitor and talking to other visitors about the displays. Then he discovered there was a volunteer program and he’s been enjoying himself ever since.
Jim began working in the Vertebrate Paleontology collections in early 2010 and says he “still feels like I am on 'Holy Ground' whenever I’m working with the fossils. Running across material first studied by Cope or one of the other early paleontologists still gives me goose bumps.”
When he’s not working at the Museum, Jim has a serious interest in nature photography and specializes in photos of flowers and birds. He can often be found down at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, communing with the Herons, Egrets and Geese.
Susan J. Hewitt is a naturalist in the British tradition. She has been on the volunteer staff at AMNH since the year 2000, spending seven years working in the malacology section of Invertebrate Zoology, where she was awarded Field Associate status from 2006 to 2008. When the malacology section became inactive in 2007, she moved to Invertebrate Paleontology so she could continue working with mollusks, in the fossil record. Susan previously had a position at the Harvard MCZ for 2 years in malacology, and taught a college seminar on mollusks at Yale. She has over 20 scientific publications, and is actively involved in field research in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. Susan is currently writing several papers on the marine mollusks of that area. She is also very active in WikiProject Gastropods, which is part of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
Susan was born and grew up in Kent, England, just a few miles from Charles Darwin’s “Down House”, which she visited many times as a child. On one visit she was even allowed to play Darwin’s piano!
Susan was born and grew up in Kent, England, just a few miles from Charles Darwin’s “Down House”, which she visited many times as a child. On one visit she was even allowed to play Darwin’s piano!
Jim retired from teaching science after 34 years, 22 as Department Chairperson at Miller Place H.S. on Long Island. He and his wife then established a vacation home in Ojai, CA, near Santa Barbara, which they visit in winter and summer. In 1995 Jim began volunteering at AMNH, designing the Volunteer Newsletter, working in Exhibits and later in Vertebrate Paleontology. Over the years he worked his way up and is now a fossil preparator. Jim continues to do a Volunteer Newsletter at The Morgan Library and Museum. He designs websites and has worked in a number of artistic endeavors including jewelry making, stained glass, pottery, architecture, marquetry, and currently digital photography. Jim and his wife travel extensively.
Volunteer, Vertebrate Paleontology
Having grown up in New York City , Alice
She retired after working thirty years in research laboratories followed by ten years as an administrative assistant in a busy field office in a NYC park.
Because she had worked in scientific institutions and had also interacted with the public in her administrative job,
Return to top
At Radcliffe, where Peggy met her husband Bill, she majored in English, which she says, doesn’t prepare you for a career but does lead to an enjoyable life after college. They moved to New York City, and raised their two children in Brooklyn Heights.
Peggy is a librarian by trade and by inclination, and for many years worked for the organization currently named JPMorgan Chase. Since retiring she has enjoyed volunteering at the New Lebanon (NY) Public Library, the American Museum of Natural History Osborn Library, and the Kendal on Hudson Library.
She and Bill now divide their time between the home they built in Columbia County and their apartment at Kendal on Hudson, a retirement community in Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County. She is active in Old Chatham Quaker Meeting and she and her husband both enjoy the many benefits of New York City, including proximity to their two grandchildren.
Marion has a B.S. in Education from Hunter College, CUNY, an M.S. in reading Disabilities from City College, CUNY and an M.S. in Special Education from Hunter College, CUNY. She worked as an elementary school educator, specifically in the area of special education from 1974-1991.
Marion began volunteering in the AMNH in 2000 where she worked in the Department of Invertebrates wet collection – cleaning specimens and refilling jars of alcohol specimens. Later, she began working in the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology where she has had many responsibilities, including cleaning Gastropod and Brachiopod fossils. She currently works entering information about the non-type Brachiopod specimens in the database.
Linda has a BFA from the Art Institue of Chicago and worked for over 30 years in the fashion industry.
She has volunteered at the AMNH since 1999, first as a Fossil Explainer on the 4th floor and now mainly as a tour guide for highlights tours, training sessions and special exhibitions. She also worked on research projects for the renovation of the Hall of Ocean Life and had the pleasure of making Ginko leaves and Stag Horn coral in the Exhibition department.
Linda began volunteering in the Department of Invertebrate Paleontology around 2001, beginning by handling tiny little fossils and writing tiny little numbers on them (she says that her art training helped a lot!). She was also part of the volunteer team who worked on the digital imaging project for fossil invertebrate specimens. She later worked on the Type Collection of fossil invertebrates, doing data entry and making sure that the specimens were properly labeled and stored. Currently, Linda is working on the preservation of the Foram collection.
Linda says that that she finds her volunteer work in Invertebrate Paleontology rewarding and fun and that it has added another dimension of valuable information to all her other volunteer jobs in the museum.
After graduating with a BA in Anthropology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 2007, Signe left the quiet costal havens of Northern California to pursue adventure and a career in Archaeology in the big city.
She has a background in ceramics analysis and has worked with collections from the Spanish Missions in California.
Signe has been volunteering for the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology since May 2010 where she has helped with the inventory of the Proboscidea collection. She is currently working on her application for graduate school.
Sofia has volunteered at the AMNH in the Vertebrate Paleontology collections since Fall 2009. She graduated in 2010 with a B.A. in Anthropology and Museum Studies certification from Connecticut College. In the past year Sofia has worked in varying areas of Type Re-housing project and in the inventory of the Proboscidean collection.
Along with her interest in Anthropology, Sofia has had experience with art galleries, philanthropy development organizations, the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt and Hudson River Museum. Working at the AMNH has allowed her to fulfill the fantasy of understanding and assiting with the inner workings of the museum she visited in her youth.
