Scott D. Sampson, the new curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Utah Museum of Natural History, is exuberant about his job: "It's exactly what I've always wanted to do."
Sampson has been working at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and going on paleontological expeditions to Madagascar for years. He was hired by the museum to begin work on July 1. Soon after arrival in Utah, he returned to Madagascar for unfinished projects there, so he's only been at the museum for a little more than a month.The Canadian native is 38 years old and engaged to be married. Besides his curatorial duties, he was appointed assistant professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah.
Teaching excites him. "I can take on graduate students and actually create an entire program in vertebrate paleontology," he said.
He will teach courses on vertebrate paleontology and dinosaurs at the university, working with graduate students at the museum and leading expeditions to Utah's wild country. He also will help design new exhibits at the museum.
"One of the most common questions I'm asked is, 'Well, don't we already know everything about dinosaurs?' And the bottom line is that we hardly know anything about dinosaurs -- next to nothing.
"We're just starting to begin to understand the nature of what dinosaurs were and how they lived, and therefore it's a very exciting time to be involved -- all kinds of potential for new discoveries."
Most of the dinosaurs unearthed so far in Utah come from relatively small windows in time, he says. "Utah has been sampled in some time periods very well, but in others hardly at all."
Yet this state has rock formations from most of Earth's history, some of them loaded with spectacular fossils. Sampson hopes to help fill in the gaps by making discoveries from other eras.
It's something he will enjoy doing, especially since he can do it by driving a few hours instead of traveling a couple of days to the other side of the world.
"I have been interested in dinosaurs since the age of 5. I basically was the kid who never grew up. And I'm just getting paid to do what I love to do now, which makes me one of the luckiest people around, I think.