Paleontologists Gather To Honor Mentor & Colleague

In October, an international roster of distinguished paleontologists will gather in Cincinnati to honor a colleague and mentor who – literally – wrote the book on Cincinnati paleontology.

University of Cincinnati Emeritus Professor of Geology David L. Meyer will be honored the weekend of Oct. 5 and 6 with a Friday symposium, a celebratory dinner at the Cincinnati Zoo, and a Saturday field trip. Meyer, who joined UC’s faculty in 1975, assumed emeritus status in August. He is the co-author of A Sea Without Fish: Life in the Ordovician Sea of the Cincinnati Region, a comprehensive look at the fossil riches of Cincinnati, published in 2009 by Indiana University Press.

“In so many other ways, Dave has played a central role in mentoring a very large number of students at all levels who have gone on to successful careers in geology,” said UC Geology Professor Arnold Miller. “And, despite the large amount of time he that he devotes to students and to the community, Dave has had quite a successful career as a research scientist and he enjoys a strong international reputation among paleontologists.”

That reputation no doubt contributes to UC’s paleontology program being ranked 6th in the United States according to U.S. News & World Report. Meyer has received UC’s annual Barbour Award for promoting good student-faculty relations, and many of his former students now hold positions of prominence within paleontology.

“Dave’s mentoring extended, in my case, to advice in choosing a Ph.D. program and writing letters of recommendation for my first job application, demonstrating his commitment to mentoring, even after the student graduates and his genuine concern about students’ current and long-range development,” said Danita Brandt, now at Michigan State University. Brandt is among those presenting during the Oct. 5 symposium.

As a researcher, Meyer is best known for his work on crinoids, a relative of starfish with a fossil record dating back to Cincinnati’s 450-million year-old rocks. Crinoids are still found living in today’s oceans, so Meyer learned SCUBA diving to study living specimens. His work on modern crinoids in their environment led to new insights into the health of coral reefs.

In addition to teaching and research, Meyer has been active in the community. He was instrumental in the creation of Trammel Fossil Park in Sharonville, Ohio, where Oct. 5 has been named "David Meyer Day." Meyer has served, for almost 40 years, as faculty advisor to the Dry Dredgers, an association of amateur paleontologists.

New Perspectives in Paleoecology and Macroevolution:
A Symposium in Honor of Professor David L. Meyer
October 5, 2012
Room 400B Tangeman University Center
Speakers & Topics

Brenda Hunda (Cincinnati Museum of Natural History): Stability and intensity of clinal regimes over longer term intervals: Implications for interpreting stratophenetic patterns in the fossil record.

Benjamin Dattilo (Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne): Revising Rafinesquina: new insights on a familiar fossil.
Robert Elias (University of Manitoba): Paleobiological innovations of free-living solitary corals in the Late Ordovician of Laurentia.

Steven Holland (University of Georgia): Bryozoan gradient ecology in the type Cincinnatian: the missing piece of the puzzle.

Carlton Brett (University of Cincinnati): Cycles, shells, storm beds and sediment starvation in  the classic Lower Cincinnatian (Upper Ordovician: 450 Ma) in its type area: Implications for a revived ‘layer cake’ stratigraphy.

Danita Brandt (Michigan State University): Eurypterids and the ecdysis hypothesis: Eureka?!

William Ausich (Ohio State University): New perspectives on crinoids from the Fort Payne Formation.

Peter Holterhoff (Texas Tech University and Hess Corporation): Lower Permian supersequences and evolving sequence architecture of the eastern shelf, Midland Basin, Texas: Was the tropical Permian Basin controlled by deglaciation of Gondwana?

Tomasz Baumiller (University of Michigan): Predation intensity and the bathymetric distribution of crinoids.

Michael Foote (University of Chicago): Escaping infant mortality: why do some genera and not others live well past their time of origin.

Benjamin Greenstein (Cornell College): Escaping the heat: Coral reefs and climate change.

Mark Boardman (Miami University): Working with Dave Meyer in the field.

 

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