Cells to Ecosystems Summer School in Philadelphia, USA
Cells to Ecosystems Summer School in Philadelphia, USA
This summer, two members of our lab attended the Cells to Ecosystems Summer School at Haverford Campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. This programme offered participants in-depth training in trait-based palaeobotany and highlighted how plants can be used as tools to understand Earth systems and vegetation in Earth’s history. The course covered methods like field-based plant physiology measurements, fossil collection and analyses, as well as computational modelling.
Dr William J. Matthaeus participated as co-investigator and co-organiser of the programme, alongside Jonathan P. Wilson (who generously hosted the event at Haverford College), Joseph D. White (Baylor University), and Principal Investigator Daniel J. Peppe (Baylor University). Dr Miriam Slodownik participated as an attendee alongside six further selected students.
The diverse 10-day programme spanned lectures, practical sessions, and field trips. Highlights included fossil plant collecting in Centralia, a tour deep underground (and deep in time) in a historic coal mine (https://www.pioneertunnel.com/) which exposed Carboniferous coals, and a visit to Longwood Gardens (https://longwoodgardens.org/). The summer school was an excellent learning and networking experience and a great success for all organisers and attendees.
This course is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
