Sternberg Science Camps+

Please have and encourage patience with US federal offices and our federal colleagues in the coming days. With a US federal government shutdown now in effect, progress on permit requests from federal agencies will very likely be delayed.

Best of the summer collage, 2025 edition!

Choosing which colleges to apply to can be tricky! David and Alex have a few tips to make the process a little easier for you.

#paleontology #collegedecision #science

Finding a career in paleontology can look a bit different for everyone! Alexandra Bonham breaks down her journey from climate-change geology to vertebrate paleontology.

Featuring
@al3xandr4.bsky.social and @biogeoverse.bsky.social.

#paleontology #fossils

This week on Endless Forms our I’ll be joined by Alexandra Bonham to talk about grad school, amazing Utah paleontology, and her career path in the NPS and @swcaenvironmental.bsky.social! We’ll see you on Wednesday at 7:30pm central time on Instagram!

The Dark Side of Being a Female Shark Researcher Being a scientist should not require developing the grit to continually endure misogyny, discrimination, harassment, assault or bullying

When I wrote this for SciAm, the thing that genuinely surprised me most was the number of emails I got (mostly from men) telling me that prior generations of women in science would be ashamed of me for my weakness in writing it.

www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...

Starting September 3rd!

Sternberg Camps Prospective Staff Q&A Session RSVP Form RSVP for a prospective staff Q&A session with Camps Director David Levering! Select one or more sessions, your name, and your email, and we'll get you the Zoom access link(s) to attend. Q&A sessions...

We're coming up on the first 2026 @sternbergcamps.bsky.social staffing info session on September 6. These group zoom calls will cover information about the Instructor and Teaching Assistant roles. Each session will start with a short presentation, followed by a Q&A portion.
forms.gle/AK9PmRd8f8wz...

Abstract accepted for a poster at @societyofvertpaleo.bsky.social! Instead of the education side, I'm packing as much entrepreneurial strategy, process, and lessons learned from 11 years leading the Sternberg Camps. My hope is that this info can be valuable to other institutions’ funding stress.

Sternberg Camps Prospective Staff Q&A Session RSVP Form RSVP for a prospective staff Q&A session with Camps Director David Levering! Select one or more sessions, your name, and your email, and we'll get you the Zoom access link(s) to attend. Q&A sessions...

Yes, it's that time again! Information sessions for 2026 @sternbergcamps.bsky.social staffing begin in September. If you know a senior undergrad, grad student or recent graduate who may be interested, please pass this link along, or share this whole post. Thanks!

forms.gle/CBwTpFDEsQ6P...

Breathtaking views of the high elevation North Horn Fm in Central Utah

Fragment of trionychid turtle shell between the stubby, worn fingers of a paleontologist

Spent yesterday checking on access to various sites in the Cretaceous-Paleocene North Horn Formation, including a new site with adult and juvenile ceratopsian material we’ll be opening next month. Paleo can be challenging at 8000-10,000’!

And of course there are turtles. 🐢🥰

#FossilFriday

Photo of paleontology summer campers in Utah with a colored in US map overlaying the photo.

First look at @sternbergcamps.bsky.social 2026 projected operations map! We still have space for a couple more site partners, so get in touch ASAP if you and your organization are interested in hosting one of our programs next summer.

“Alexandra, Matti and Max were just extraordinary. Our son truly loved getting to know them and learn from them. He raves about their wealth of knowledge and the incredible things they do. He loved their sense of humor, too! We could tell they love working with the kids. We can't speak highly enough about his teachers and the other professionals he worked with during his camp.” -2025 Camps Parent

Science is a team sport, and we take immense pride in recruiting amazing science educators to create and run our programs!

Take a quick look at some of our campers’ favorite fossil preparation projects!

Advanced Fossil Prep camp gives students the opportunity to work more independently on larger, more skill-intensive projects under the guidance of our professionally trained staff.

Blue sign with white text that reads "dinosaur cloning lab"

Location: basement of my building.

I think this is self explanatory. My only question is why I wasn't informed. Seems like a safety issue. @psugeo.bsky.social

Yes we now realize we listed four people but said "all three of you". Dr. Simpson got her job technically in the spring but we felt bad excluding her on a technicality, so we added her in last second. WE ARE VERY PROUD OF ALL *FOUR* OF YOU! 😅

Huge congratulations to current/former instructors @tyrantlzrdqueen.bsky.social, @eury-speir.bsky.social, Dr. Emily Simpson, and soon-to-be-Dr. Jessica McCraw for landing permanent paleo career jobs this summer! Proud of all three of you and excited to see you thrive in your new academic homes!

Fossil skeleton of a large fossil fish being prepared by high school summer camp students at the Sternberg Museum!

Some exciting progress being made by our Advanced Fossil Prep students on a Pachyrhizodus fish fossil our Paleo Field Camp group dug up way back in 2018!

“This is my child’s second summer going to Sternberg camps. Without a doubt, your camps are above and beyond expectations! My child always has great time and has made lasting friendships and connections. “

New friends and fossils now, colleagues and careers to come! We’re immensely proud of our track record of students and former staff keeping in touch and working with each other long after their Camps experience has ended.

I’m on here!

One of the other projects students worked on: A Cimolichthys fish fossil!

Starting work on the Pachyrhizodus fish fossil!

Prep Camp student working on a mosasaur in the Sternberg Museum fossil prep lab.

Our first session of Fossil Prep Camp students, seen here with half of the Pachyrhizodus fossil fish still in a plaster jacket.

The Fossil Prep students visiting the Sternberg Museum collections, including a mounted Protostega cast!

Some highlights from our first session of Fossil Prep Methods camps last month! Among other projects, students had a chance to work on a mostly complete Pachyrhizodus fish fossil! Yours of the Sternberg Museum’s collections as well as lessons on molding and casting were also included.

Block 2 of our 2025 programs starts this Sunday! Stay tuned from more updates as we head out to Utah, Missouri and Utah in addition to our Kansas programs.

As always we immensely appreciate the post-camp feedback we get from our students and their parents! With twelve surveys in so far, our staff teams are averaging 9.5/10 scores!

Happy #FossilFriday from an undisclosed Kwik Trip as I embark on my trek to Kansas for my first @sternbergcamps.bsky.social !

We dig! 🪏🧑🏼‍🎤👩🏼‍🎤⛏️🦖

A lab with skeletal material

A woman with an ammonite on a beach

A woman looking at a T. rex skull in a museum

A man preparing a fossil reptile

So, you want to be a palaeontologist and study prehistoric life, but don't know where to start?

Maybe you worry you're not good enough? That you can't do field work? Or you can't afford it?

Let me take you through different options for making it in the field 👇(🧵)

Congratulations to our 2025 scholarship awardees! We can’t wait to see you this summer!

If you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation to our scholarship fund, please see the link below!

foundation.fhsu.edu/sternberg-ca...

We can’t wait to explore with you all this summer!

YouTube video by DrNeurosaurus A Presidential Panel: Chatting with the Presidents of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

New episode out today! I was honored to sit down with 7 of the 8 women presidents of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology and hear their experiences.
⛏️
youtu.be/YRCaNhDeSVE