Curriculum Vitae of Paul E. Olsen

Ecosystem Evolution, especially aspects of external forcing and intrinsic biological innovations.
Triassic and Jurassic Continental Ecosystems, Paleobiology, Climate, Tectonics, and Stratigraphy.
(go to Triassic/Jurassic Research Group)
(go to Newark Basin Coring Project Home Page)

"Lower" Vertebrate Systematics and Paleobiology, especially Tetrapod Footprints
(go to The Triassic/Jurassic Footprint Project Home Page)

Positions Held:

April, 2008 to present: Elected, National Academy of Sciences (http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=04292008)
Jan., 2003 to present: Research Associate, Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA.
Jan., 1999 to 2001: Paleontological Society Distinguished Lecturer.
Jan., 1998 to present: Honorary Board of Directors, Fundy Geological Museum, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Jan., 1997 to 2007: Vice President, Board of Directors, Black Rock Forest Consortium
Jan., 1995 to present: Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
Jan., 1991 to 1994: Associate Professor of Geological Sciences, Department of Geological Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
July, 1985 to present: Research Associate American Museum of Natural History.
Nov., 1985 to present: Research Associate Virginia Natural History Museum.
Sept., 1984 to Dec. 1990: Assistant Professor of Geological Sciences, Department of Geological Sciences, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University.
March, 1987 to March, 1990: Associate Editor, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.
Sept., 1983 to August, 1984: Postdoctoral Fellow, Miller Institute of Basic Research in Science, University of California, Berkeley.

Service to Scientific Community:

2007-present, Board of Directors, DOSECC: 2003-present, Lamont representative to DOSECC; 2004-2007, NSF panel; 2005, Geosystems (NSF); 2003: DOSECC, Best Practices Workshop and Annual Meeting Participant; 1999: NSF Science and Technology Center, site review team; 1995-1997: Member Science Advisory Committee, International Scientific Drilling Program (Potsdam, Germany); 1994-1996: Member, Steering Committee, Earth Systems History, NSF; Columbia Representative to Black Rock Forest Consortium; Participant in Continental Scientific Drilling Forum Meetings; Leader of Field trips for Scientific Drilling Organizations; Principle Leader of International Geological Congress Field Trip T351 (NC. to Nova Scotia); Organizer and co-chair of ICDP sponsored Understanding Lacustrine Environmental History Through Continental Drilling (1997); Organizer and co-chair of NSF and ICDP sponsored International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999)

Public Education in the Media:

1984-2003: Interviewed on numerous television and radio shows including National Public Radio, The Nature of Things, History Channel. Good Morning America (TV), RAI's Italia Sera (Rome, TV), CBC - As it Happens, Morningside, NBC News, CBC - Maritimes (TV), New Jersey Network (TV), MSNBC, Discovery Channel, BBC, etc. Interviewed for numerous magazines and newspapers including American Scientist, TIME, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, National Geographic, Science Times, Science News, Discover, Boston Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Readers Digest, Science Digest, New Scientist, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, etc.

Service to Industry:

1984-1998: Mobil Oil, Rift Basin Tectonics Course (with Martha Withjack, Robert Clarke, John Wagener, John Armentrout, Martin Link); Marathon Oil, Lacustrine Exploration Course (with William Bosworth, Joseph Lambiase); Consultant to Eastern Exploration Inc.; Consultant to Exxon, Texaco, Mobil Oil, Citco, Arco Petroleum, North Central Oil, Cornell Oil.

Teaching: (go to Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences)

Professional Affiliations:

American Geophysical Union, Society for Economic Mineralogists and Paleontologists, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, Carolina Geological Society, New York Geological Association, Sigma Xi, Paleontological Society, Geological Society of America, New York Paleontological Society

Grants, Contracts, and Awards

2007-2008: Workshop on integrated scientific coring on the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic history of west Pangea. (P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $29,265).
2006-2008: Workshop on integrated scientific coring on the Colorado Plateau: Early Mesozoic history of west Pangea. (P.E. Olsen, D.V. Kent, J. Geissman) (DOSECC, $36,000).
2005-2007: Collaborative Research: Calibration of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic timescale using U-Pb dating of the high-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Newark Supergroup (D.V Kent and P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $86,210).
2003-2005: Extension of the Newark geomagnetic polarity reference sequence to address problems of the Carnian and the Middle Triassic. (D.V. Kent and P.E. Olsen) (NSF, $166,760).
2001-2003: Upgrading of the Scanning Electron Microscope/X-Ray Microanalysis Facility at LDEO (P. Olsen, M. Anders, E. Bonatti, R. Fairbanks, R. Sambrotto, D. Breger, S-W. Chan, N. Landman) (NSF $277,865).
2001-2003: High-resolution Cyclostratigraphic and Paleomagnetic Constraints on the Age and Biogeography of New, Diverse Tetrapod Assemblages from Paleoequatorial Rift Basins of Southeastern North America (P. Olsen, D. Kent) (NSF $130,000).
2000-2002: Orbital Forcing of Continental Eocene Climate: The Green River Formation of Wyoming (P. Olsen,  N. Christie-Blick, S. Hemming) (NSF $35,107). 2000-2001: Climate Model - Data Comparisons and Discrepancies for the Pangean World  (Carboniferous-Jurassic) (P. Olsen, D. Kent) (LDEO Climate Center., $5,000).
2000-2002: Search for the J1 Cusp in Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $100,000).
1999-2001: Filling the Norian (Late Triassic) Gap in Tropical Tetrapod Diversity, eastern North America. (P. Olsen and H.-D. Sues) (NSF $100,000).
1998-1999: International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999). (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $40,000).
1998-1999: International Workshop for a Climatic, Biotic, and Tectonic Coring Transect of Triassic-Jurassic Pangea (1999). (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (ICDP $26,000).
1998-2000: Search for the J1 Cusp in Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $157,630).
1998-2000: Orbital Forcing of Lacustrine Sequences - Argana Basin, Morocco. (P. Olsen) (LDEO Climate Center., $6,000).
1997: Workshop: Understanding Lacustrine Environmental History Through Continental Drilling (1997). (P. Olsen) (ICDP - $50,000).
1997-1998: Mobil Foundation Award. ($10,000).
1996-1997: Configuration of Pangea During the Late Triassic. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $25,000).
1995-1997: The Effects of Milankovitch Climate Cycles and Paleolatitude on Triassic Floral Diversity. (S. Fowell and P. Olsen) (NSF $165,000).
1994-1995: Acquisition of a Mass Spectrometer System for K/Ar dating by the ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar Method. (W. Broecker, M. Anders, D. Kent, C. Langmuir, and P. Olsen) (NSF $185,000)
1993-1996: Milankovitch Forcing of Continental Monsoons Across the Equator of Pangea. (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $380,000).
1990-1993: 30 Million Year Record of the Evolution of a Continental Rift: the Newark basin. (P. Olsen and D. Kent) (NSF $2,100,000). The Newark Basin Coring Project (NBCP)
1990-1991: Anatomy of a Continental Rift.. (M. Steckler, J. Diebold, P. Olsen) (NSF $50,000)
1990-1992: A Triassic Synapsid-Dominated Tetrapod Assemblage of Gondwanan Aspect from the Richmond Basin of Virginia. (H. D. Sues and P. Olsen) (NSF $99,876)
1990-1991: A Triassic Synapsid-Dominated Tetrapod Assemblage of Gondwanan Aspect from the Richmond Basin of Virginia (H-D. Sues and P. Olsen) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $14,000)
1989-1990: Hudson River Seismic Experiment (J. B. Diebold, G. Bond, P. Buhl, R. C. Raleigh, L. Seeber, and P. Olsen) (NSF $180,000).
1989-1990: A Late Triassic South American Vertebrate Assemblage from Virginia. (H-D. Sues and P. Olsen) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $11,000)
1988-1990: Early Mesozoic Continental Tetrapod Diversification and Extinction in Eastern North America. (NSF $135,000).
1988-1989: Distribution of Extension with Depth in the Newark Basin. (G. Karner, M. Steckler, P. Olsen) (NSF $65,000).
1988-1990: Comparison of Growth Structures Along Border Faults... (American Chemical Society $18,000).
1988-1990: Paleomagnetism of the Newark Supergroup... (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $150,000).
1987: Paleomagnetism of the Newark Supergroup: A Test of the Paleomagnetic Euler Pole Model. (D. Kent and P. Olsen) (NSF $20,000).
1987: Faunal Change Across the Triassic-Jurassic Boundary in Nova Scotia. (N. Shubin, and P. Olsen, M. H. Anders) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $14,050).
1986: Diverse Early Jurassic Tetrapod Assemblage from Nova Scotia. (P. Olsen and N. Shubin) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $13,700).
1986-1988: Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow. ($25,000).
1985: First Diverse Early Jurassic Tetrapod Assemblage. (P. Olsen and N. Shubin) (Nat. Geographic. Soc. $10,400).
1985-1986: Arco Petroleum Research Fellowship. ($12,000).
1984-1988: N. E. U.S. Neotectonic Research. (L. Seeber and P. Olsen) (N.R.C. $200,000).

Theses Sponsored

1. Schlische, R. W., 1990, Aspects of the Structural and Stratigraphic Development of Early Mesozoic Rift Basins of Eastern North America. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 479 p.
2. Fowell, S. J. 1993, Palynology of Triassic/Jurassic boundary sections from the Newark Supergroup of Eastern North America: Implications for catastrophic extinction scenarios. [Ph. D. Thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 133 p.
3. Reynolds, D. J., 1993, Sedimentary basin evolution: tectonic and climatic interaction. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 215 p.
4. LeTourneau, P. M., 1999, Depositional History and Tectonic Evolution of Late Triassic Age Rifts of the U. S. Central Atlantic Margin: Results of an Integrated Stratigraphic, Structural, and Paleomagnetic Analysis of the Taylorsville and Richmond Basins. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 294 p.
5. Malinconico, MA. L., 2002, Lacustrine organic sedimentation, organic metamorphism  and thermal history of selected Early Mesozoic Newark Supergroup basins,  Eastern U. S. A., [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 419 p.
6. Rainforth, E. R., 2005, Ichnotaxonomy of the fossil footprints of the Connecticut Valley (Early Jurassic, Newark Supergroup, Connecticut and Massachusetts). [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 1302 p.
7. Machlus, M., 2004, Orbital forcing of continental Eocene climate: Detailed stratigraphy and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar dating of the Green River Formation in Wyoming. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, 123, p.
8. Whiteside, J. H., 2006, Catastrophic, Climatic, and Biotic Modulation of Ecosystem Evolution. [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 220 p.
9. Liu, J., 2007, New Traversodontid Materials from the North Carolina, USA and the Taxonomy, Phylogeny of Traversodontidae (Synapsida: Cynodontia). [Ph.D. thesis]: New York, New York, Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 195 p.

(go to part 2 [publications])