Melissa Barton Masters Candidate Melissa thinks plants are awesome. My research interests are focused primarily on the Eocene-Oligocene climate transition, a time of great ecological change as global climate cooled. Altered temperatures and weather patterns strongly affected both plant and animal communities. My thesis work focuses on late Eocene to early Oligocene fossil plants from localities in the Northern Rocky Mountains. By comparing both microsites within a formation and samples from different formations, I hope to learn more about the local timing and terrestrial effects of the Eocene-Oligocene cooling in the Rocky Mountain region, as well as address the role of local ecology in understanding regional patterns in fossil deposits. In addition to this, I have also been working on a paleoecology project at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, studying mammals of the Oligocene White River Group. I completed an internship in paleoecology and evolution, where I participated in fieldwork in the Bridger and Wind River Basins, Wyoming, and worked with high school students in the field and at the museum to catalog new specimens. I am deeply interested in how museums can improve collections storage, access, and record-keeping, even when best practices are not obtainable. I believe that many museums have failed to convey the importance and value of museum collections to society, and that this issue deserves strong focus as funding becomes tighter. Fulfilling our missions on decreased budgets requires creativity and a willingness to try new ideas and approaches. In the Museum and Field Studies Program, I hold a graduate assistantship in Informatics and sit on the Collections Committee and Biodiversity Project Task Force. Melissa's CV Field Photos Dr. Herb Meyer and Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument summer interns Kathy Salas and Eva Lyon helping me with Antero Formation (Eocene) fieldwork in 2007. Historical paleontological site "Cockerell 14" at Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. Many of the specimens for my thesis work were collected here in 1906-1908 by one of the founders of the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History, T.D.A. Cockerell. The Eocene Wind River Formation in Wyoming, where I did part of my summer internship with the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, is an exceptionally rich fossil mammal site. DMNS scientists are now starting to describe the fossil flora. My first rattlesnake sighting! Also in Wind River (where I saw my second, and third...). One of my favorite finds of the summer, a fossil lizard jaw from the Eocene Bridger Formation, Wyoming. Museum Field Methods class at Niwot Ridge. Left to right: (back) John Hankla, Adam, Christy McCain, Billy Goldrick, Blake Stepan, Cat, Heather Hamilton, (front) Melissa Barton, Chrissy Spence.