ReginaLena McManus participated in newsworthy discoveries during her Hire-A-Panther experience.
Working with Dr. Michael D’Emic of the biology department in his paleontology lab, McManus was afforded the opportunity to work on examining and repairing dinosaur fossils. She learned how to “create strong glue for putting bone pieces together, blending two-part clay to fill in major cracks and spaces, and creating new plaster cradles for the prepared bones.”
Her time in the lab taught her about how to apply new skills to a variety of fields, such as paleontology and archaeology.
McManus also learned how to take the initiative and take advantage of opportunities. “I saw Dr. D’Emic’s poster advertising for the position and I took a chance to reach out to ask him about the position and eventually got it,” she says. “It is not something I always would have done and now I know taking chances and reaching out is so important.”
She encourages students new to the program to do the same. “You never know where it will take you,” says McManus.
She continues to work with Dr. D’Emic, who was featured on the news for his findings, in his paleontology lab. During this past summer, McManus was able to enroll in is summer course “Special Topics: Field Paleontology” in Utah. She had the opportunity to work on site to excavate bones and also learned how to prepare track sites. “I learned a lot about anatomy, geology, geologic mapping, and dinosaur growth,” Mcmanus says.
