Museum Unlocked University of Colorado Museum of Natural History

It wasn’t until an archaeology class perfectly fit her college schedule that Dr. Samantha Fladd considered being an archaeologist or a college professor. Now, as assistant professor, museum curator, and archaeological researcher, she helps college students investigate cultures of the past through analysis of archives and museum collections. She pays special attention to how access to spaces relates to social power dynamics and identity in past civilizations, and candidly offers insights into privileges and barriers that have impacted her own career journey.

Dr. Samantha Fladd is a Curator of Archaeology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She researches ancient civilizations of the American Southwest, including Chaco Canyon, and places special emphasis on the context and spaces in which objects are found, analysis of original excavation notes, and collaborating with Native descendent communities.

How can photosynthetic algae and invertebrate animals benefit each other? What can we learn from marine symbiosis to make human agriculture more efficient and human relationships more mutually beneficial? Questions like these feed Dr. Jingchun Li’s continuous curiosity. Inspired by a children’s book series, she became fascinated with biology as a kid and collected unusual pets to observe at home. She now weaves together field biology, lab research, museum collections, teaching, and lessons from being the mom of young children to answer scientific questions about earth’s biodiversity.

Dr. Jingchun Li is the Curator of Invertebrates and Assistant Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She researches the biodiversity and evolution of invertebrates, as well as biological interactions like predation, parasitism, and mutualism. In working with university students, she aims to facilitate critical thinking and a deeper awareness of earth’s biodiversity of animals.

Tapirs and monkeys lived in the arctic?! Dr. Jaelyn Eberle’s research provides puzzle pieces about prehistoric periods of climate shifts. As a young girl in rural Canada, she looked for fossils with her grandmother, and though she had never met a paleontologist, she knew she would become one. She now leads multidisciplinary science expeditions in the Canadian Arctic. Discover what collaborative field and lab research look like, what it’s like to be a female in paleontology, and her approach to encouraging university students to become concerned citizens.

Dr. Jaelyn Eberle is the Curator of Fossil Vertebrates and a Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. She conducts field and lab research on prehistoric mammals from the Rocky Mountain region and the Canadian Arctic, curates the museum’s collection of fossil vertebrates, and works with university students, giving them tools to be concerned citizens. She is the Director of the Museum and Field Studies Master’s Program and teaches courses like Paleobiology and Introduction to Earth History.

Dr. William Taylor wanted to be an archaeologist like Indiana Jones as a kid, but lost sight of that dream as a teenager. Discover how a single college elective led Will back to this dream, and how a field school experience in Mongolia sparked a research passion to unlock mysteries of ancient horse domestication. Learn how struggles, privilege, and the impact of mentorship have shaped his path.


Dr. William Taylor is a Curator of Archaeology and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder. He integrates field research, emerging technologies, and museum collections to study the history of horse domestication. His questions have taken him to Mongolia, the Steppes of Central Asia, the American Southwest, China, and Australia. Discover more about his research in National Geographic, The Guardian, and the Smithsonian Magazine.