Ryan Ridder, 2016

I am now a mammal paleontology graduate student at the KU Biodiversity Institute, working under Christopher Beard. I study an assemblage of mammals from a particular site in southern Wyoming called Twelvemile Basin, which represents a period of time roughly eight million years after the non-avian dinosaurs went extinct. Currently I am one of three David B. Jones Fellows in Vertebrate Paleontology. I try to do as much outreach as I can, speaking at elementary schools and creating activities for public events associated with the KU Natural History Museum and the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. I also established a "Be a Paleontologist" merit badge activity for local Girl Scouts. In my spare time I am attempting to write a book about mammal evolution for a general audience.