Geology at CSU Stanislaus

I am a vertebrate paleontologist, with a background in both biology and geology. My current research is on Late Cretaceous theropod dinosaurs and the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction 65 million years ago. Every January my students I and do field work in Big Bend National Park, Texas (students, email me if you are interested in participating)

I started at CSU Stanislaus in August, 2003. Previously, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Geology at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York (2002-2003) and the Haslem Postdoctoral Fellow/Assistant Professor at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (1999-2002). I had a Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship in Alberta, Canada (1999). I have honorary research positions at the Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Alberta, the University of California Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology, and the Louisiana State University’s Museum of Natural Science.

I earned my Ph.D. in 1998 from the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where I taught as an instructor in the department and was collections manager of vertebrate paleontology in the Museum of Natural Science. My dissertation was on Late Cretaceous vertebrates and magnetostratigraphy of Big Bend National Park, Texas (photo below). Map.

I worked as a paleontological consultant for environmental companies from 1991-1994. Before that, I received my M.S. in Quaternary Studies from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 1991, with a thesis on Pliocene- Pleistocene vertebrate fossils and magnetostratigraphy of southwestern Idaho. During this time I worked for the U.S. Geological Survey’s Paleomagnetics Lab in Flagstaff. From 1987-1988, I took geology courses and field camp at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and in 1987 I graduated with a B.S. in Biology from Albertson College of Idaho in Caldwell. I am from Santa Barbara, California.

Left 2007 expedition to Big Bend National Park, Texas (Sankey on far right). Right: Richard Peltier excavating hadrosaur femur.

Research Associate – 2005 to present. Univ. California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley
Research Associate – 2000 to present. Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, Alberta
Research Associate – 1998 to present. Louisiana State Univ. Museum of Natural Science

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Books (In Press):

Sankey, J.T. and S. Baszio, Editors. In Press. Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages: Their Role in Paleoecology and Paleobiogeography. Indiana University Press (Bloomington). (Due out in November, 2007). Table of contents.

Journal Articles:
Nydam, R.L., J.G. Eaton, and J.T. Sankey. 2007. New taxa of transversely-toothed lizards (Squamata: Scincomorpha) and new information on the evolutionary history of "Teiids". Journal of Paleontology 81(3):538-549.

Sankey, J.T. 2006. Turtles of the upper Aguja Formation (late Campanian), Big Bend National Park, Texas; pp. 235-243. In: Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior. Bulletin 35, S. Lucas and R. Sullivan (eds.). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (Albuquerque).

Sankey, J.T. 2005. Late Cretaceous vertebrate paleoecology, Big Bend National Park, Texas; pp. 98-106. In: Dinosaur Park Symposium, Short Papers, Abstracts, and Program, D.R. Braman, F. Therrien, E.B. Koppelhus, and W. Taylor (eds.). Special Publication of the Royal Tyrrell Museum, September 24-25, 2005. Drumheller, Alberta, Canada.

Sankey, J.T., D.B. Brinkman, M. Guenther, and P.J. Currie. 2002. Small theropod and bird teeth from the Judith River Group (late Campanian), Alberta. Journal of Paleontology 76(4):751-763.

Sankey, J.T. and W.A. Gose. 2001. Late Cretaceous mammals and magnetostratigraphy, Big Bend, Texas. Occasional Papers of the Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University No. 77:1-16.

Sankey, J.T. 2001. Late Campanian southern dinosaurs, Aguja Formation, Big Bend, Texas. Journal of Paleontology 75(1):208-215.

Sankey, J.T., T.R. Van Devender, and W.H. Clark. 2001. Late Holocene plants, Cataviña, Baja California, Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 46(1):1-7.

Clark, W.H. and J.T. Sankey. 1999. Late Holocene Sonoran Desert arthropod remains from a packrat midden, Cataviña, Baja California Norté, México. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 75(4):183-199.

Schiebout, J.A., S. Ting, and J.T. Sankey. 1997. Microvertebrate concentrations in pedogenic nodule conglomerates: recognizing the rocks and recovering and interpreting the fossils. Palaeontologia Electronica. 1(2):54 pp. http://palaeo-electronica.org/1998_2/toc.htm

Sankey, J.T. 1996. Vertebrate paleontology and magnetostratigraphy of the Upper Glenns Ferry
(latest Pliocene) and Lower Bruneau (Pliocene-Pleistocene) Formations, near Murphy, southwestern Idaho. Journal of the Idaho Academy of Science, 32(1/2):71-88.

Book Chapters:

Sankey, J.T. In Press. Vertebrate paleoecology from microsites, upper Aguja Formation (Late Cretaceous), Big Bend National Park, Texas (26 pp, 4 figs, 1 table). In: The Unique Role of Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages in Paleoecology and Paleobiology, J.T. Sankey and S. Baszio (eds.). Indiana University Press (Bloomington).

Sankey, J.T. In Press. Diversity of latest Cretaceous (late Maastrichtian) small theropods and birds: teeth from the Lance and Hell Creek formations (19 pp, 4 figs, 5 tables). In: The Unique Role of Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages in Paleoecology and Paleobiology, J.T. Sankey and S. Baszio (eds.). Indiana University Press (Bloomington).

Welsh, E. and J.T. Sankey. In Press. First dinosaur eggshells from Texas: Aguja Formation (late Campanian), Big Bend National Park. In: The Unique Role of Vertebrate Microfossil Assemblages in Paleoecology and Paleobiology, J.T. Sankey and S. Baszio (eds.). Indiana University Press (Bloomington).

Sankey, J.T., D.B. Brinkman, R.C. Fox, and D.A. Eberth. 2005. Patterns of distribution of mammals in the Dinosaur Park Formation and their paleobiological significance; pp. 436-449. In: Dinosaur Provincial Park, Alberta, P.J. Currie and E. Koppelhus (eds). Indiana University Press.

Sankey, J.T., B.R. Standhardt, and J.A. Schiebout. 2005. Theropod teeth from the upper Cretaceous (Campanian-Maastrichtian), Big Bend National Park, Texas; pp. 127-152 In: Carnivorous Dinosaurs, Ken Carpenter (ed), Indiana University Press (Bloomington).

Sankey, J.T. 2002. Vertebrate paleontology and magnetostratigraphy of the Glenns Ferry and Bruneau Formations (Plio-Pleistocene), near Murphy, southwestern Idaho; pp. 1-49 In: W.A. Akersten, H.G. McDonald, D.J. Meldrum, and M.E.T. Flint (eds), And Whereas... Papers on the Vertebrate Paleontology of Idaho Honoring John A. White, Volume 2. Idaho Museum of Natural History Occasional Paper 37.

Mead, J.I., J.T. Sankey, and H.G. McDonald. 1998. Pliocene (Blancan) herpetofaunas from the Glenns Ferry Formation, southern Idaho; pp. 94-109 In: W.A. Akersten, H.G. McDonald, D.J. Meldrum, and M.E.T. Flint (eds), And Whereas... Papers on the Vertebrate Paleontology of Idaho Honoring John A. White, Volume 1. Idaho Museum of Natural History Occasional Paper 36.

Recent Abstracts (* indicates student)

Sankey, J.T., S. Atchley, L. Nordt, S. Dworkin, S. Driese. In Review. Dinosaurs and dirt: dinosaur paleoecology, paleosol stratigraphy, and isotope geochemistry from the upper Aguja Formation (Late Cretaceous: late Campanian-early Maastrichtian), Big Bend National Park, Texas. 67th Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Austin, Texas

Gasaway*, S., V. Meredith*, N. Ortiz*, and J. Sankey. In Review. Paleoecology of a Chasmosaurus mariscalensis bonebed, Late Cretaceous (late Campanian), Big Bend National Park, Texas. 67th Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Austin, Texas

MacInnes*, S., D. Tovar*, R. Peltier*, and J. Sankey. In Review. A new hadrosaur site in the uppermost Aguja Formation (early Maastrichtian), Big Bend National Park, Texas. 67th Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Austin, Texas

Sankey, J.T. 2007. What were the effects of climate change on Late Cretaceous through Paleocene vertebrates in southern North America? Cal Paleo conference. April 28, 2007, California Academy of Science.

Bantly*, M., 23 other students, and J. Sankey. 2007. Vertebrate paleoecology of Late Cretaceous (late Campanian to early Maastrichtian) deposits, Big Bend National Park, Texas. Cal Paleo conference. April 28, 2007, California Academy of Science.

Sankey, J.T. 2006. Separating terrestrial from extraterrestrial effects on K/T extinctions: changes in vertebrates and climate during the last 10 million years of the Cretaceous in southern North America. 66th Annual Meeting, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology Abstracts of Papers 26(3)119A.

Sankey, J.T. 2006. Late Cretaceous vertebrates and climate change in the southern Western Interior: Big Bend National Park, Texas, p. 31. In: Late Cretaceous Vertebrates from the Western Interior. Bulletin 35, S. Lucas and R. Sullivan (eds.). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (Albuquerque).

RECENT INVITED PRESENTATIONS
"Paleoecology and paleoclimate of a Chasmosaurus mariscalensis bonebed, Late Cretaceous (late Campanian), Big Bend National Park, Texas" Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, April 6, 2007

“Big Bend Dinosaurs and other Cretaceous Wildlife” Big Bend National Park, Texas, January 17, 2006
"Responses of Late Cretaceous Vertebrate Paleocommunities to Climate Change in Southern North America (Big Bend National Park, Texas)".
     Baylor University, Department of Geology, January 27, 2006
     Louisiana State University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Wilbert Lecture Series. Feb. 4, 2006.
     University of California, Davis, April 14, 2006.
     University of California, Berkeley, Museum of Paleontology, April 7, 2006.

EXTERNAL GRANTS

Earthwatch Institute, Center for Field Research (2002), "North Dakota Dinosaurs" ($10,400).

National Geographic Society Research Grant (2001). "Late Cretaceous diversity of theropod dinosaurs and mammals, Hell Creek Formation, North Dakota ($11,000).

COURSES TAUGHT

California State University, Stanislaus, Department of Physics and Geology, 2003 to present

Dinosaurs
History of Earth and Life (lecture and lab)
Sedimentary Rocks and Depositional Environments
Earth Science
Paleontology/Stratigraphy
Principles of Geology (lecture and lab)
California Geology

Geological Field Excursions - Big Bend National Park, Texas
Independent Research Study in Paleontology

Vassar College, Department of Geology and Geography, 2002 to 2003 (Visiting Assistant Professor)

Geomorphology
Advanced Environmental Geology
Evolution of Earth and its Life

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Museum of Geology & Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, 1999 to 2002 (Haslem Fellow/Assistant Professor, non-tenure track).

Graduate Seminar in Paleontology: Cretaceous/Tertiary Extinctions
Vertebrate Paleontology
Workshop for Teachers

Louisiana State University, Department of Geology and Geophysics, 1997 to 1998 (Instructor).

Historical Geology
Freshman Geology

OTHER INTERESTS
I love to travel, and have had fantastic trips to Paris and southern France, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Australia, Venezuela, Mexico, Canada, Bulgaria, Greece, etc. However, there’s still a lot of the world I want to see such as New Guinea, Africa, Argentina, Italy, Great Brittan, etc. CSU Stanislaus Geology students: “Let’s Go!”


	Department of Physics, Physical Sciences, and Geology California State University, Stanislaus 801 W. Monte Vista, Ave. Turlock, CA 95382 (209) 667-3466 • FAX (209) 667-3099