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Full Name: Dena Smith
Bio: My name is Dena and I'm a paleontologist from the University of Colorado. I serve as the Curator of Invertebrate Paleontology in the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and the as an Associate Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences. These positions allow me to do a great variety of really fun things. I get to do research, conduct fieldwork, teach courses, take care of amazing fossil collections, help create exhibits and educational programs and work with great people! I consider myself pretty lucky!
Research Interests: My research is broadly focused on insects in the fossil record. Insects constitute the most diverse group of organisms on the planet and although they have received great attention from researchers who work on modern insects, there are few workers in the country who use the fossil record to study the evolution of insects. To study evolution, I conduct both in depth field-based research at targeted localities and large-scale literature based research across multiple geologic time intervals. I also conduct studies in modern ecosystems and in the lab in order to learn more about the specifics of plant-insect interactions and processes of fossilization.
Home Page: http://spot.colorado.edu/~dena/DMSmithHomepage.htm