[Nhcoll-l] Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology (AMMP) Annual Meeting

Fri Jan 29 09:57:13 EST 2016

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Who?
The Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology (AMMP) is an international, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of persons interested in the field of paleontological collections care and methodology. This includes collection, preparation, sampling, analysis, and conservation of fossil animal remains. Members have the desire to maintain and further the profession through increased communication with peers, and encourage those with the desire and capabilities to enter the profession. Members promote better understanding and awareness of the profession and maintain and encourage high standards of competence and ethics.

What?

AMMP meets annually to discuss and disseminate best practices and new techniques for collecting fossils in the field and in the preparation, storage, and conservation of paleontological collections in museums. Past attendees have included research scientists, fossil preparation and collections professionals (both established and emerging), avocational and hobbyist collectors, and volunteers from across North America and around the world. All individuals hoping to share or gain insight into these exciting fields are encouraged to participate.

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Where?
Host Hotel and Meeting Venue
DoubleTree by Hilton Colorado Springs

AMMP has arranged special meeting room rates

See:  http://paleomethods.org/annual-meeting/2016-travel-info.html for travel and lodging information<http://paleomethods.org/annual-meeting/2016-travel-info.html%20for%20travel%20and%20lodging%20information>

When?

April 18 through April 23rd, 2016

Early registration is open until February 16, 2016

http://paleomethods.org/annual-meeting/2016-registration.html

What will happen?

Monday and Tuesday, April 18th-19th

            2-Day Pre-Meeting Photogrammetry Workshop (registration required)

            Tuesday Evening: Early Registration open

Wednesday April 20th

            Back to Basics all day workshop

            Evening: Poster Session and Opening Reception

Thursday, April 21st

            AM Oral Presentations

            PM Workshops, Tours, and Roundtable Discussions

            Evening Entertainment: Trivia Night

Friday, April 22nd

            AM Oral Presentations

            PM Workshops, Tours, and Roundtable Discussions

            Evening Event: Silent Auction and Banquet

Saturday, April 23rd

            Scheduled Field Trips to nearby sites of paleontological, preparation and collections interest (registration required)

Opening Day Back to Basics Workshop

The Wednesday Back to Basics Workshop will present all meeting participants with an overview of the Competencies for the Fossil Preparator and how they relate to everyday preparation. Presentations on topics such as adhesives, molding and casting, mechanical preparation, and fieldwork will discuss the basic skills that each preparator should have.

Oral Presentations and Workshops

Thursday and Friday will feature oral presentations in the morning followed by workshops, Round Table Discussions, and tours of nearby Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument and the Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center.

Abstracts for oral and poster presentations will be accepted until Feb 1, see the paleomethods.org website for guidelines.

A complete list of workshops is forthcoming; registrants will be able to preselect the workshops in which they are most interested. Topics will include: Advanced Moldmaking, Conservation Principles, Adhesives and Consolidants, Microscopy, Conservation Housings, Field Techniques.

Submit your abstracts for talks or posters

Share your work, your ideas or your questions

Abstract Submission Deadline is MIDNIGHT, February 1st.

http://paleomethods.org/annual-meeting/abstract-guidelines.html

http://paleomethods.org/annual-meeting/2016-abstract-submission.html

Bring Silent Auction items!

Proceeds will help to fund the new McCarty Student Travel Grant. Named in honor of the late Russell McCarty of the Florida Museum of Natural History, this fund will help students attend and present at future AMMP conferences. If you have large items you are considering bringing to the meeting, please contact: annualmeeting at paleomethods.org<mailto:annualmeeting at paleomethods.org>

AMMP William W. Amaral Legacy Award Nominations

Is there someone that you believe has made a significant and long-lasting contribution to the profession of fossil preparation? Nominate them for the Amaral Legacy Award. Send a formal letter of nomination to:  annualmeeting at paleomethods.org<mailto:annualmeeting at paleomethods.org> Nominating letters should explain how the individual fits the criteria for the award, emphasizing the nominee's contributions over the span of his/her career.
·
In March of 2015, AMMP established a lifetime achievement award in recognition of the significant and lasting contribution to the field of paleontology. First presented at the 8th Annual Meeting in Raleigh, NC, this award is named after its inaugural recipient, William W. Amaral. Throughout his career, Bill demonstrated a commitment to the principles of our profession. Bill was a teacher, an advocate, an innovator, and a skilled practitioner. He raised standards and expectations about what a fossil preparator is and does, helping to build community by championing the very idea of profession.

Recipients of the William W. Amaral Legacy Award will embody the traits that Bill personified, and that he spent his career working to instill in others- patience, vigilance, collegiality, and above all, a drive to advance techniques in paleontology.

JOIN AMMP

Help us grow by joining a Committee!  We are establishing committees to help run AMMP. A volunteer organization like ours is only as strong as its membership; please consider ways that you can contribute. Committees include:

Annual Meeting: Coordinates with Host Committees, provides administrative and organizational support, encourages submission of papers and workshops
Development:Responsible for fundraising for general funds, awards, travel grants
Publications: Encourages presenters of talks and posters from each meeting to post their work as PDFs on the AMMP website, assists as needed in converting PowerPoint or other files to PDF, edits post-prints for publication
Web Development: Maintains the AMMP website, assists with posting new and changing information, manages AMMP social media accounts
Awards:receives and vets nominations of recipients for the William W. Amaral Legacy Award, the McCarty Student Travel Award, the AMMP Service Award and others as they are developed
Training: Works to develop training methods and ways of sharing knowledge of techniques, standards and use of materials
Materials Research: Explores the uses of new materials for preparation, evaluates their conservation properties, posts this information so that it is available for others
Membership Committee: Maintains records of membership and publishes member directory, recruits and encourages new membership in the organization

Spaces are filling fast!

2-Day Pre-Meeting Photogrammetry Workshop
Photogrammetry:
Digital Data Collection in the Field, Lab, and Museum
Date and Time:
April 18 & 19, 2016 from 8:30am - 4:30pm
Photogrammetry is a powerful and relatively inexpensive tool for the 3D documentation of the appearance and condition of fossil resources during any step of the curatorial process. The purpose of this workshop is to familiarize participants with the methodology, applications, and products of photogrammetry as it relates to collection, preparation and curation of fossil material as a tool for specimen documentation and recordation, as well as digital data archiving.

Workshop Overview: The general concept of the workshop is to provide an overview of photogrammetry and requirements of image capture. The workshop will begin with a discussion of the basics of stereo photography and what makes photogrammetry work; followed by an overview of the photogrammetric process, camera/equipment, simple to complex project designs, importance of camera calibration, examples of project layouts and results, and what can be done with the data. The hands-on part of the workshop will allow participants to use their own cameras to collect digital data using photogrammetry of various types of specimens and then a walk-through of some of the basic processing; AgiSoft Photoscan Professional will be utilized; allowing participants to actually see some of the processed data from their photogrammetric work. Participants will have the chance to process some of their own data and utilized 3D data for analysis, such as generating 3D output files and color depth maps, using CloudCompare, an open source software). Generating and utilizing 3D data will provide a better understanding of the monitoring and conservation opportunities photogrammetry provides for the field of vertebrate paleontology. Participants are encouraged to bring their own digital cameras, laptop computers (Windows and Mac).

Equipment - While this is an introductory level workshop, all skill levels are welcome. For those wishing to complete projects a DSL Camera with a wide angle lens (20 to 35 mm lens) and windows laptop or Mac with software pre-loaded is recommended. Information for obtaining a no-cost trial licenses will be provided upon workshop enrollment.

Organizers:

Neffra Matthews
Geospatial Section
National Operations Center
Denver Federal Center

Brent H. Breithaupt
BLM Regional Paleontologist:
WY, ID, MT, ND, SD, NE

John "Jack" Wood
GIS Specialist/Geologist, Guest Scientist
Geologic Resources Division

Saturday will feature field trips to nearby sites of paleontological,
preparation and collections interest.

Morrison Natural History Museum
Minimum of 24, maximum of 56 participants

Orientation at Red Rocks Park
A short walk that introduces participants to the geologic setting of the west Denver Basin, focusing on the Morrison Formation and the historic and modern investigations on the ridge known as the Dakota Hogback.

Quarry 5 Visit (west side of Dinosaur Ridge)
Participants will be acquainted with the sandstone site that produced the original type specimen for Stegosaurus. Historic collection methods will be discussed, along with a modern interpretation of the depositional environment.

Tour of Morrison Natural History Museum
The collections from the Morrison Formation of Morrison, Colorado will be explored, with at look at some specimens collected by Arthur Lakes and a glimpse at modern work at these historic sites. Participants will be introduced to how ongoing fossil preparation in the display areas augments pubic programming.

Tour of Paleontology Lab
Participants will be introduced to the materials and methods MNHM staff employs to prepare difficult sandstone from fragile bone. This unique, accessible space also allows for meaningful informal science education.

Comanche National Grasslands
Maximum of 11 participants

Introduction to the rocks and fossils of the Greenhorn Cyclothem as exposed in the Comanche National Grassland of southeastern Colorado
 Overview of the history of the area by looking at a homestead built of fossiliferous rocks on the remote prairie
 Overview of the history of geological and paleontological knowledge by looking at influential maps and documentation as they relate to the area
 Produce replicas of track fossils from the Dakota Sandstone using the collapsible foam method described by Nolan, et.al. in Proceedings of the First Annual Fossil Preparation and Collections Symposium, 2009

Pueblo/Cañon City

Minimum of 24, maximum of 64 participants

Pueblo/Baculite Mesa
Located on private property, participants will be introduced to the Pierre Shale, which was deposited within the Western Interior Sea approximately 69 to 80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian). Participants will be able to collect invertebrates such as ammonites, baculites, inoceramus clams, scaphites, pelecypods, gastropods, and nautiloids.

Cañon City/Garden Park Fossil Area
Participants will visit the Garden Park Fossils Area where a BLM representative will talk about "the most productive and historically important locations in the United States for the study of Late Jurassic dinosaurs." While at Garden Park, participants will be able to visit the historic Cleveland Quarry and Marsh Quarry.

Cañon City/Skyline Drive
Constructed by convict labor chain gangs in 1903 and rising 800 feet above Cañon City, Skyline Drive offers spectacular views. Participants will be introduced to the famous dinosaur footprints found in the Dakota Group in 2001.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Minimum of 24, maximum of 56 participants

Tour of the Avenir Collections Center: DNMS's newest collections storage facility.
 Introduction to the Schlessman Family Earth Sciences Laboratory (Preparation Lab) with narrative of operations and Q&A.
 Self-guided tour of exhibits, with a special note to see Prehistoric Journey “A journey through the eons allows you to trace the evolution of life on Earth, from single-celled organisms to lumbering dinosaurs to the inhabitants of today's world.”

Support your Association

Please consider contributing to funds that help your association work for you. When you register for the annual meeting or join/renew your membership, you have the opportunity to make a tax-deductible contribution to our General Fund or Student Travel Fund. You can also donate by check, made payable to the Association for Materials and Methods in Paleontology. Contact Development Committee Chair Matthew Brown (matthewbrown at utexas.edu<mailto:matthewbrown at utexas.edu>) for more information.

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