A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: volunteer to help bring a dinosaur to life at UND!
Do you like dinosaurs? We do, too!
Paul Ullmann, paleontologist and assistant professor of Geology & Geological Engineering at UND, and his graduate student Skylor Booth are ready to begin working on cleaning and stabilizing the new dinosaur skeleton at UND.
They are excited to invite students, faculty/staff, and the Greater Grand Forks community to help with this important process! No prior experience or tools are necessary, and you do not need to be affiliated with UND to participate – all are welcome!
The main project will be to clean and stabilize the bones of a duck-billed dinosaur called Edmontosaurus, which Dr. Ullmann’s research team brought back from Montana last Fall. They also have a portion of a Triceratops frill (the big sheet of bone that extends off the back of the head) that needs to be prepared, giving us two dinosaur species to work on!
Fossil Prep Sessions will be held weekly on Fridays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., starting Friday, February 16.
Please sign up for specific dates and timeslots you’d like to come help!
PLEASE READ BEFORE REGISTERING:
- For logistical and safety reasons, the volunteer spots are limited to only 5 volunteers in each two-hour timeslot each Friday. Signup is first-come first-served, but to provide your friends and family equal opportunities to help out, please only sign up for dates/volunteer slots which you are certain you can make. If you can no longer make it to a timeslot you signed up for, please cancel your signup to free that spot so someone else can fill it. One of our goals is to give everyone who wants to help out a chance to do so!
- We will be working in the North Dakota Geological Survey (NDGS)’s Core Library, which is technically not part of UND’s campus. Therefore, please enter the south-facing door of Leonard Hall (the home of UND Geology and Paleontology, at 81 Cornell Street in Grand Forks), then head up the stairs and meet up in the glass skywalk over Campus Drive which connects Leonard Hall to the NDGS Core Library. This is where either Dr. Ullmann or Skylor will meet you to let you into the Core Library. It is for this reason that the timeslots are each two hours long, and we thus ask you to please be on time.
- We request that you please join us for at least 2 hours starting at either 2:00pm or 4:00pm, so that you stay long enough to accomplish meaningful progress. You’re welcome to sign up for both two-hour timeslots on the same day if you’d like to stay with us for all 4 hours!
- No prior experience or tools are necessary, and you do not need to be affiliated with UND to participate – all are welcome!
- For safety reasons, please wear closed-toe shoes (no sandals).
- At the request of the NDGS, we must limit the age of volunteers to be 16 and above (if on your own), or with parental supervision 14 and above. (Note: If you or a family member are under the age of 14 but would like to see the dinosaur, please email Dr. Ullmann to inquire about setting up a guided visit – we can work to make that happen!)
- We will have an additional 3-ring-binder sign-in book at the room in which we’ll ask you to record your hours.
- Restrooms and a water fountain are available just down the hall from where we will be working. Please only use sealable or closeable containers for water or another drink.
Questions? Contact Dr. Ullmann at paul.ullmann@UND.edu, by phone at 701.777.5115, or in his office in Leonard Hall, Room 217.
