The Minor in Paleontology is intended for students pursuing degrees in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (i.e., STEAM majors) who are interested in 1) developing a deep-time perspective on the co-evolution of ecosystems, environments, and climates and 2) understanding how fossil evidence can benefit a variety of STEAM pursuits. Many careers in anthropology, biology, geology, environmental science, education, and government agencies utilize fundamentals of paleontology, and students who earn the proposed minor can signal their multidisciplinary knowledge base to employers outside of traditional paleontology careers.
After completing the Minor in Paleontology students will be able to:
- Describe major events in the fossil record and how those events provide context for understanding global change today;
- Summarize and interpret important trends in the biodiversity and evolution of an organismal clade through Earth history;
- Identify and mitigate incompleteness and sources of bias in paleontological data;
- Analyze and evaluate paleontological datasets (e.g., biodiversity metrics, biostratigraphic occurrences, morphometrics, phylogenies, etc.) to address questions related to Earth system changes over deep time.
The Minor in Paleontology requires a minimum of 15 credits, including:
| Required Courses: | ||
| GEOL 2020 | History of the Earth | 3 |
| BIOL 2110 | Principles of Biology I | 3 |
| GEOL 4040X | The Fossil Record | 3 |
| At least one of the following 1000- and 2000-level courses/labs: | 1-3* | |
| Human Origins | ||
| Principles of Biology Laboratory I | ||
| Principles of Biology II | ||
| How the Earth Works | ||
| Age of Dinosaurs | ||
| History of the Earth: Laboratory | ||
| At least one of the following 3000- and 4000-level courses/labs: | 3-4* | |
| Biological Anthropology | ||
| Biological Evolution | ||
| Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy | ||
| Invertebrate Biology | ||
| Vertebrate Biology | ||
| Plant Evolution and Phylogeny | ||
| Macroevolution | ||
| Paleoclimatology | ||
- *
6 or more credits must be earned from the two lists of electives above.
The Paleontology Undergraduate Minor is an LAS Minor. In addition to University polices governing minors, LAS minors require at least 6 credits in courses numbered 3000 and above, with a grade of C or higher.