This International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) project is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The award is made to Professor Frankie Jackson at Montana State University in Bozeman. The participating U.S. graduate and undergraduate students will collaborate with researchers in the Paleontology Department at the Zhejiang Natural History Museum in Hangzhou, China. Their foreign collaborator at the museum is Dr. Xingsheng Jin. The project will provide a quality international research experience for 27 graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in paleontology, biology, geology, and earth science programs over a three year period. The students will have a unique opportunity to conduct research on specimens from one of the largest fossil egg collections in the world. The proposed research focuses on one egg type, referred to as Dictyoolithus, represented by hundreds to thousands of specimens in the Zhejiang museum. They will work in a number of different groups to collect data on egg size and volume, clutch configuration, number of eggs within clutches, eggshell thickness and microstructure, abnormal or unusual egg features, dimensions of the openings in the egg surface, and associated sediments. In addition, students will learn to measure and describe a stratigraphic section through the egg-bearing rocks. These data will be used to assess the method of egg incubation and hatching, determine variation within the oogenus and the extent to which features reflect biologic, rather than geologic processes. The research will conclude with submission of a written report on the results of their analyses. Egg incubation methods employed by dinosaurs provide important information on the physiology of the animal and insight into the evolutional origin of the unique reproductive system that characterizes modern birds. Interpretations about dinosaur reproductive biology, however, remain contentious in the literature because of the difficulty of interpreting behavior from the rock record. This project specifically addresses these problems and will provide important new evidence about dinosaur reproductive biology.
A major emphasis of the project is to engage U.S. students in meaningful projects with international students and faculty. Students will work closely with researchers with different scientific backgrounds and will learn field and laboratory techniques that will enhance their research skills. Altogether, these experiences will increase the networking and international competitiveness of the student participants. By intentionally creating opportunities for first-generation, minority, and female students, the research program will have broad impacts on geological education and research.
