The John J. Brander and Christine E. Rundblad Research Fellowship Program at the Milwaukee Public Museum seeks to stimulate fundamental research by scientists doing research on Wisconsin biodiversity or environmental issues, especially those that utilize and strengthen the natural science collections at MPM.
Dr. KATIE PAULS
The Gilbert Raasch Cambrian Invertebrate collection houses specimens from many localities in Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota, most of which were collected during the 1930s, and from localities that no longer exist today. The collection represents a historical collection for the State of Wisconsin, and therefore contains invaluable specimens from the inner detrital belt of the shallow inland sea that covered much of the continent south of Wisconsin and Minnesota during the Cambrian Period.
Dr. Kathryn Pauls will study the paleoecology of Early and Late Cambrian faunal assemblages from Wisconsin localities in order to better understand this relatively understudied paleoenvironment. This project will also shed insight on invertebrate evolution along the shoreline during the Cambrian and provide context for the evolution of new fauna during the Ordovician Radiation.