Today we’d like to introduce you to Joseph Deckhut
Hi Joseph, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I switched my major many times, so it took a bit before I landed on paleontology. I have loved dinosaurs ever since I was a kid, but what made me fall in love with dinosaurs was actually Godzilla. Fast forward to when I went to my community college, Brookdale Community College, in New Jersey, where I had taken a class that got me interested in anatomy. Since I always loved dinosaurs, I thought I would try anatomy on dinosaurs. So I took the only geology class the school had and geared it towards paleo. I loved it, it did not even feel like work. So, I finished my Associate’s Degree there and then moved on to my Bachelor’s Degree. I completed my Bachelor’s at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. While there I worked on multiple research projects. I described a very tiny avian tarsometatarsus, which I presented at The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) at the recent Toronto meeting. Also, I described the 1st juvenile specimen of Bottosaurus harlani, the specimen was a lower left dentary with associated teeth, and I presented that research at SVP in Cincinnati. That research was also recently published in 2024. My last project there was identifying a pathology on a fossil sea turtle shell, which I found to be a type of shell rot. All three of those fossils I worked on were found in the Late Cretaceous Hornerstown Formation of New Jersey. During my time at Rowan, I also had an internship at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. While there, I would docent for the museum, prepare fossils using equipment like air scribes, and dig for fossils of Camarasaurus and Diplodocus while also showing families how to identify bones. The summer between receiving my Bachelor’s and starting my Master’s degree, I spent a field season camping out in Montana to excavate and retrieve the hip area of an Edmontosaurus. Throughout my Master’s degree at Eastern Washington University, my work has been to find the niche, or lifestyle, of a latest Cretaceous fossil bird from Antarctica called Antarcticavis capelambensis, work that I had presented at this past SVP in Minneapolis. This past summer, I had gone to do field work in the latest Oligocene Etadunna Formation in Australia. In fact, all the photos in this article are from this trip. The field team for this trip consisted of myself, Joseph Carr, Judd Case, Jessica Scharpf, and Linsly Church. While prospecting, we had found a new fish fossil. So, a side project has been to help with the research of this new fish. Now, I am wrapping up my Master’s degree and am hoping to move on to a PhD program.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road has not been the smoothest. I do not think my problems are anything out of the norm from any other person though. For years, I have struggled with depression and motivation issues. Getting the money to travel for field work and conferences has been a struggle as well. In my undergraduate career, my family was more willing to help me out financially but now that I am in graduate school, I need to figure out how to fund my schooling and living situation for myself. Luckily, I was able to land a job while at school to help with that. The biggest struggle has been the feeling of not fitting in. Back home in New Jersey, I was able to make amazing friends that I know will last a lifetime. Now that I live across the country, in Washington State, I have not been able to make any of the same type of connections out here. Not having a support network has made every challenge even more challenging. While this all sounds bleak, I am grateful for these challenges. I am an adult now, so being able to rely on myself to live and work is very important. Tough challenges make people grow. At the end of the day, we all just want to grow as people in one way or another.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
While I have worked many part-time and blue collar jobs, my main career path is to be a professor. Of course, I would specialize in paleontology as my research would be in that field. Being a professor gives me the three things I want out of my career which are 1) teaching students, 2) conducting research, and 3) traveling and doing field work over the summer. I would not say that I am really known for anything career wise yet, but my first scientific paper was published in 2024. For what I am most proud of, I would say the well-traveled part of my career would be what I am most proud of. Being able to say that I not only went to places like Australia, Wyoming, and Montana but that I was also able to find fossils there is amazing. The thing that sets me apart from others is likely that I am unapologetically myself. I know that some people do not like me because of this, but you can never make everyone happy.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
From when I was visiting Minneapolis for SVP, I thought the city was very pretty and the people I had met were nice. The museum was definitely worth exploring. There was not anything in particular I did not like while I was there.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: poppunkpaleontologist
- Other: [email protected]
