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Science

Science is a tool we use to look at the world and analyze what’s happening in it. Our scientists — who study everything from ancient, truck-sized snakes to microscopic, freshwater diatoms — are using science to make new discoveries in Minnesota and around the world.

We hold more than 2 million objects in our collections that provide billions of data points, telling stories about the natural world over millennia. Find out more about our work, dig into the areas of research we cover, and make your own discoveries.

Anthropology

The Anthropology Department works to curate and steward a diverse, ethically held, and accessible collection that represents cultures from around the world and across human history with a commitment to understanding. The department embraces multiple perspectives and partners with Native communities, inviting Indigenous perspectives as foundations for understanding cultural connections. The department’s work examines human interactions through multiple lenses, including relationships people have with landscapes and changing environments, relationships with each other, and relationships and traditions people have with material culture.

The Anthropology Department’s cultural collections are global in scope and represent over 100,000 years of time – from paleolithic stone tools from southern Europe and northern Africa to contemporary works purchased from indigenous artists.

Highlights of the Anthropology Collection

  • The fully digitized Chiapas Collection, assembled between the late 1970s until today. This documents and celebrates the vibrant culture and art of Maya communities in Chiapas, Mexico. The textiles, tools, and other materials illustrate a remarkable cultural resilience while capturing the influences of globalization and international tourism of the last 40-50 years. Also included in the Chiapas Collection Online Portal are digitized records of the Chiapas textile collection of and at La Asociación Cultural Na Bolom, located in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas.
  • Jeffrey J. Foxx Chiapas Maya photography archive, a collection of more than 10,000 photographs of weaving traditions and daily life among Maya communities.
  • Mexican folk art collection that spans masks, yarn and bead paintings, and ceramic art.
  • Ceramics of the Nicoya peninsula, Costa Rica, including both contemporary and archeological pieces.
  • One of the most extensive Hmong material culture collections from the 1950s-1990s outside of southeast Asia.
  • Native American indigenous seed collection of more than 200 varieties of maize, beans, squash, sunflowers, and other cultivated plants.
  • The Warren Basketry Collection, which includes nearly 200 baskets collected among Native communities in the Great Lakes region between the 1920s and 1960s.

Dr. Fleming, Curator of Anthropology, with college students in his archaeological field school course at the Pine Needles site along the Saint Croix River.

Jeffrey J Foxx Archive, Two Maya women weaving on a backstrap loom, Zinacantán, Chiapas, Mexico, July 1978.

A77:1:82 Huipil (woman’s blouse) from Oxchuc, Chiapas.

Jasmine Koncur, Research Assistant, and Ed Fleming, Curator of Anthropology, during excavations at the Pedersen site in 2022.

Measuring depths during excavation at the Pine Needles site.

Refitting ceramic rim sherds for a 2,000-year-old pottery vessel found during excavation along the Mississippi River near Spring Lake. Acc A2018:18.

Biology

The Biology Department studies and shares the incredible diversity of life found on our planet. From rare bugs to snake skins to local birds and more, it’s truly astounding to see the many forms nature takes. The museum’s biology collection boasts over 170,000 specimens from around the globe including the largest collection of mammals in Minnesota — even a two-headed snapping turtle with quite a history.

Highlights of the Biology Collection

  • Mammalogy (mammals): 50,000 specimens, including study skins, flat skins, osteological and fluid specimens
  • Ornithology (birds): osteological specimens and 1,300 study skins
  • Herpetology (reptiles and amphibians) and ichthyology (fishes): 1,000 fluid and osteological specimens
  • Entomology (insects and other arthropods): 40,000 pinned specimens
  • Aquatic invertebrates: 80,000 marine and freshwater bivalves, fluid mollusks, and fairy shrimp
  • Botany and ethnobotany (plants): 1,000 herbarium specimens.
  • One species of mammal new to Minnesota (the smoky shrew, Sorex fumeus), which is only represented in Minnesota collections by the 50+ specimens preserved at the museum
  • The largest collection of mammal specimens in Minnesota (including specimens in fluid)
  • A two-headed snapping turtle named Emily
a hawk specimen being cleaned with a paintbrush.
a scientist pins a butterfly specimen using gloves and glasses.
Close up image of Emily the two headed turtle from the Collectors Corner

Collections

The Science Museum of Minnesota stewards a permanent collection of approximately 2 million items from around the globe and spanning Earth’s history. Divided into the disciplines of anthropology, biology and paleontology, the collections inspire scientists, artists, culture bearers, educators, and museum visitors.

OUR COLLECTIONS

Paleontology

The Paleontology Department at the Science Museum of Minnesota collects, cares for, and researches the fossilized remains of past life to promote the understanding of extinct and modern life on Earth.

The more than 100,000 specimens in our collections preserve the history and share the beauty of our planet’s array of life. You’ll find everything from barely visible pollen spores to hundreds of crocodiles — and of course, lots of dinosaurs!

Highlights of the Paleontology Collection

  • Paleocene Wannagan Creek biota, including thousands of fossils from more than 150 species of plants, animals, and fungus. Crocodilians, champsosaurs, and turtles dominate the collection, but mammals, birds, fish, invertebrates, and plants are also well known from the Wannagan Creek Quarry.
  • Mesozoic and Cenozoic crocodilians and other reptiles, including Albertochampsa (one of the oldest known alligators), Thecachampsa, Terminonaris, Amphicotylus, and several species of champsosaurs.
  • Jurassic dinosaurs from Wyoming, including exceptionally preserved specimens of Camptosaurusand several sauropods such as Diplodocus and Haplocanthosaurus.
  • Cretaceous dinosaurs, including T. rex and Triceratops from the Hell Creek Formation. The paleontology team is actively building this collection through annual fieldwork in Montana.
  • Oligocene fossils from the White River Group of Wyoming and South Dakota, including mammals, reptiles, and fish.
  • Invertebrate collections including a representative array of North American invertebrates, and especially Minnesota’s Paleozoic fauna.
  • Chondricthyan and Actinopterygians from the Eocene Green River Formation of Wyoming.
  • Minnesota’s Pleistocene vertebrate fauna, including Bison, Mammuthus (mammoths), Mammut (mastodons), Cervalces (stag moose), Homotherium (scimitar-toothed cat), Megalonyx (giant ground sloth) and Castoroides (giant beaver), representing the state’s recent past.
  • Type and figured specimens including more than 20 holotype specimens, more than 100 other type specimens, and hundreds of specimens figured in peer-reviewed literature.

Online specimen records and photographs are compiled on iDigBio, a website containing biology and paleontology specimen records from across the globe.

St. Croix Watershed Research Station

The St. Croix Watershed Research Station, on the banks of the St. Croix River Valley, is home to a team of scientists who study water around the world. Using scientific tools, five state-of-the-art laboratories (including the 1,000 square foot analytical lab), a sediment-dating lab, gamma spectrometry radioisotope tracer lab, wet lab, and a microscopy lab, the Station’s researchers uncover information about our changing climate from our most precious resource.

MORE ABOUT ST. CROIX

Anthropology Department

Curator of Anthropology

Ed Fleming

Dr. Fleming’s research focuses on the archaeology of North America, particularly the Upper Midwest, especially examining patterns of mobility, social interaction, and environmental changes from the end of the last ice age up to European colonization. The diverse cultural collections at the Science Museum, however, have inspired broad interests. Dr. Fleming’s philosophy is a community-focused approach to improving collections access, working in partnership to ensure to the greatest degree possible that the collections and documentation are accessible to the indigenous communities from which they originated. He directs the department’s efforts in provenance research, consultation, and repatriation, and is currently leading a team to document and digitize the Science Museum’s extensive collection of Maya textiles and other material culture from Chiapas, Mexico.

[email protected]

Anthropology Collections Manager

Mara Taft

[email protected]
Assistant Curator of Native American Collections

Pejuta Haka Red Eagle

[email protected]
Archaeology Technician

Miriam Samuels-Schwartz

[email protected]
Anthropology Research Assistant

Jasmine Koncur

[email protected]

Biology Department

Barbara Brown Chair of Ornithology

Catherine Early

Catherine is fascinated by the shapes and anatomy of animals, especially the relationship between form and function. She currently studies this relationship in the skulls and brains of birds using CT scanning (think of a 3D X-ray machine). While Dr. Early has a passion for all things avian, she is also the museum’s biology collection curator. She seeks to grow, preserve, and digitize the collection so that more people can learn about the science of life from around the world and here in Minnesota.

[email protected]

Biology Collections Manager

Dakota Rowsey

[email protected]

Collections Department

Director of Collection Stewardship

Rebecca Newberry

Rebecca is a preventive conservator who leads the Collections Stewardship Department. Her conservation interests include Integrated Pest Management, preventive conservation techniques, exhibit conservation and ethnographic conservation, focusing on culturally appropriate storage and preservation.

[email protected]

man typing research on a laptop.
Registrar

Charlie Iverson

Charlie is responsible for the development and implementation of policies and procedures for the management of the museum’s collections including registration and records, database management, digitization, risk management, rights and reproduction, and collections use and access.

[email protected]

Indigenous Round Table

The Indigenous Round Table is a committee of Indigenous people representing a broad geographic range, diverse perspectives, and cultural and institutional affiliations. Their goal is to promote and incorporate Indigenous perspectives and traditional ecological knowledge throughout the museum. Members act as collaborators and bridge-builders advising, leading, and supporting projects and acting as cultural liaisons with their communities. Museum staff are grateful to be in relationship with these community leaders.

Rebeka Crisanta de Ybarra

Chair

Jim Rock

Samantha Odegard

Darlene St. Clair

Kate Beane

Stephen Smith

Franky Jackson

Roxanne Gould

Paleontology Department

Philip W. Fitzpatrick Chair of Paleontology | Director and Curator of Paleontology

Alex Hastings

Much of Alex's career has focused on sensational ancient reptiles, including horse-hunting crocodiles and colossal snakes. He now studies all areas of paleontology from giant dinosaurs to tiny oysters and is actively engaged in public outreach to share his enthusiasm for the ancient world.
[email protected]
Paleontology Lab Manager

Nicole Dzenowski

With the help of a team of volunteers, Nicole spends most of her time carefully cleaning, stabilizing, and conserving a wide variety of fossil specimens for future research or display. When not in the lab, she can be found doing fieldwork throughout Minnesota or at an outreach event sharing her excitement for the natural world and its long fossil history, inspiring the next generation of paleontologists.

[email protected]

Paleontology Collections Assistant

Grace DeVault

Grace works primarily with the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Wannagan Creek collection, cataloging all related specimen information and taking pictures of each specimen for the museum’s digital collections. She also coordinates with incoming and outgoing loans and research requests.

[email protected]

St. Croix Watershed Research Station Department

Director, Department of Water and Climate Change

Adam J. Heathcote

Ph.D., Iowa State University, (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), 2013
B.Sc., Iowa State University, (Animal Ecology), 2005

Phone: (612) 470-0867
Email: [email protected]
Website: aheathco.wordpress.com

Academic Appointments and Recognition

Board of Directors, Treasurer, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (2025-Present)
Fellow (2023-Present), Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
Fellow (2022-Present), University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment
Visiting Fellow (2023-2024), Loughborough University Institute of Advanced Studies
Postdoctoral Fellow (2013-2015), Université du Québec à Montréal, Group de Recherche Interuniversitaire en Limnologie (GRIL)

Research Interests 

Paleolimnology and Anthropogenic Eutrophication

My research in this area focuses on reconstructing the historical impact of human activities, particularly nutrient pollution (anthropogenic eutrophication), on lake ecosystems. I utilize paleolimnological techniques, including the analysis of lake sediments for biological indicators and geochemical markers, to understand past environmental conditions and long-term ecological changes. A key aspect of this work is establishing reference conditions prior to significant human disturbance and correlating environmental degradation with historical land-use changes. I also investigate the contemporary effects of eutrophication on plankton ecology, with a particular emphasis on harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by Cyanobacteria.

Carbon Biogeochemistry and Sequestration in Aquatic Ecosystems

My work explores the critical role of freshwater lakes in the global carbon cycle, with a specific focus on carbon sequestration (burial) in lake sediments. I quantify carbon stocks and investigate changes in sequestration rates over time, including examining the impact of global environmental changes like increased climatic variability and atmospheric deposition on these processes. This area of research highlights the significant, and often underappreciated, contribution of lakes to long-term carbon storage.

Radiometric Dating of Lake Sediments

As the head of the Radiometric Dating Laboratory at SCWRS, I specialize in dating lake sediment cores using radioisotopes, primarily Pb-210 and Cs-137 via our laboratory’s array of alpha and gamma spectrometers. This work is fundamental to establishing precise chronologies for environmental records preserved in lake sediments. These dating techniques allow for accurate determination of accumulation rates and the timing of environmental changes, providing essential temporal context for paleolimnological reconstructions and enabling the quantification of long-term environmental trends and human impacts on aquatic ecosystems. For more information on sediment core dating in our laboratory, visit our Laboratories & Equipment page.

Publications

See a full list of Dr. Adam J. Heathcote’s publications here.

Assistant Scientist

Lienne Sethna

Ph.D., Indiana University (Environmental Science), 2022
B.S., The Ohio State University (Earth Science), 2016

Phone: (651) 243-0276
Email: [email protected]
Website: liennesethna.com

Research Interests 

My research focuses on nutrient cycling, transport, and stoichiometry in freshwater ecosystems, with a particular focus on nutrient biogeochemistry and its role in facilitating harmful algal blooms. The ultimate goal of my work is to better understand how society and people alter the function and integrity of our critical freshwater ecosystems. My work involves contemporary monitoring, paleolimnological reconstructions, and synthesis of large datasets to understand how climate change is affecting our water resources.

Eutrophication and toxic cyanobacterial blooms

A large part of my work is to understand how climate and land use change are increasing nutrient concentrations in lakes and streams and how this contributes to eutrophication and the formation of toxic cyanobacterial blooms. I have worked in human-dominated landscapes (agricultural and urban watersheds) as well as relatively pristine lakes (Superior National Forest) to characterize how direct human impacts as well as regional climate change has shifted the ecology and ecosystem function of lakes and streams.

Characterizing paleo-ecology of wild rice

Wild rice is culturally significant for many tribes in the Upper Midwest, however, its abundance has declined over the last several decades due to multiple stressors such as invasive species, water level fluctuations, and increased sulfate concentrations. Understanding the factors that contribute to wild rice decline or resilience will help inform how to sustainably care for wild rice in the future.

Characterizing the role of climate change on river function

As part of a multidisciplinary team, I am working to understand how riverine exports of nutrients, principally silicon, vary over space and time. Using a global dataset spanning more than 20 years and representing over 500 rivers on all seven continents, we seek to quantify how climate and land use change have altered biogeochemical processes and river exports.

Publications

See a full list of Dr. Lienne Sethna’s publications here.

Assistant Scientist

Amy Mybro

[email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow

Erin Mittag

[email protected]
Facilities Manager

Amber White

[email protected]
Lab Technician I

Zoe Plechaty

[email protected]
Senior Scientist

Mark Edlund

Ph.D., University of Michigan (Natural Resources and Environment), 1998
M.S., University of Michigan (Natural Resources), 1992
B.S., University of Minnesota (Biochemistry/Botany), 1987

Phone: (651) 433-5953 ext. 26
email: [email protected]

Academic Appointments

Adjunct Faculty Appointments 
Biology Faculty, National University of Mongolia
Water Resources Science, University of Minnesota

Assistant Professor (Visiting)
Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Iowa State University, Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms

Research Interests 

My research interests have developed around aquatic biology and algae, especially the diatoms. Diatoms are microscopic algae characterized by their ornate cell walls made of opaline silica, or biologically produced glass. I use diatoms to pursue these research and teaching areas:

Historical environmental change-paleolimnology

Because diatoms are made of glass, they accumulate in the bottom of lakes, providing researchers clues to conditions in a lake system in earlier times. We use diatom subfossils to measure change in historical diatom communities, lake productivity, and nutrient levels in response to climate, landuse changes, and management practices. Current projects include:

  • Resurrection Ecology – This NSF-funded project examines how organisms adapt to environmental change. The zooplankton Daphnia produces a resting structures called ephippia that have been shown to survive for decades to centuries in lake sediments. Sediment cores are being collected from two Minnesota lakes with contrasting environmental histories—Hill Lake in Aitkin Co. and South Center Lake in Chisago Co.—and biogeochemical records in the cores are being studied to reconstruct historical environmental changes. Ephippia are being isolated and hatched to test how Daphnia have responded physiologically and genetically to environmental drivers.
  • Wisconsin Lakes – Polk County, Wisconsin, boasts over 400 lakes that are prized for their beauty and recreational opportunities. However, many of the lakes suffer from impaired water quality, algal blooms, and non-native species. We are using sediment cores to determine pre-disturbance condition, develop a timeline of historical impairment, and set attainable management goals for several lakes (Polk County Land and Water
  • Metro Lakes – The Twin Cities metro area has an abundance of lakes that are focal points for recreation, development, and water management. Working in collaboration with various watershed districts and counties, we examine sediment cores from lakes to determine the history and extent of ecological change. These data are used to direct mitigation efforts, develop nutrient management plans (TMDL), and examine the effect of management strategies. Current lakes that we’re working on include Dean Lake (Scott Co) and Rice Marsh Lake (Chanhassen); recently completed projects include Spring Lake and Arctic Lake (Prior Lake).

Biomonitoring and biodiversity of aquatic resources

Our current biomonitoring research is directed at lakes and aquatic resources in the National Parks of the Upper Midwest. We recently finished a project is exploring the ecology of splash pools at three Lake Superior parks – a seasonal inventory of water quality and biology (diatoms, zooplankton, insects, amphibians) – to determine vulnerability of shoreline resources. Another project has developed a novel technique to use repeat sampling of sediments from NPS lakes to determine extent and trajectory of ecological change.

Diatoms of the United States – Edlund serves on the Editorial Board for the web-based resource, “Diatoms of the United States,” a singular source of taxonomic information on diatom diversity in the US .

Ecological change in large lakes

Laurentian Great Lakes – The Great Lakes are undergoing unprecedented change in response to introduced species and climate change. We are working to understand dramatic food web shifts in Lake Michigan, including the disappearance of the benthic invertebrate Diporeia, using a two pronged approach that investigates food resource shifts preserved in sediment cores coupled with gut content analysis of historical Diporeia collections. Other Great Lakes work investigates the recently modified pathway by which botulism outbreaks have returned to the shores of Lake Michigan.

Lake of the Woods – Situated on the border of Minnesota and Canada, Lake of the Woods is experiencing greater frequency and extent of blue-green algae blooms despite documented reductions in phosphorus loading since the 1970s. We are using analysis of multiple sediment cores from throughout the southern basin to reconstruct a historical phosphorus budget for the lake in collaboration with researchers with the MPCA, University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Ontario Ministry of the Environment.

Biodiversity and ecological change in ancient lakes and landscapes

We’ve been working in Mongolia since 1996 and recently completed a survey of the diatom flora of western Mongolia’s Valley of the Great Lakes. This landscape is dominated by two large saline lakes (Uvs and Khyargus Nuur) and many smaller lakes that range from fresh to hypersaline. Results that show recent eutrophication of lakes from interactions of grazing and climate drivers are fueling our next proposal. Other ancient lakes that we’ve worked on include Eocene kimberlite deposits in Canada, Mongolia’s Lake Hövsgöl, Russia’s Lake Baikal, Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid, and Quebec’s Pingualuit Crater Lake.

Life history strategies

Conservative estimates set the number of living diatom species at about 25,000, but knowledge of sexuality and life histories is known for only approximately 300 species. This shortfall provides a modern challenge to further a rich scientific history on algal sexuality. My work in this field has centered on description and cytology of sexuality and dormancy strategies. Our new publication presents a standardized terminology for the structures and stages present during the sexual and resting stages of the diatom life history (Kaczmarska et al. 2013)

TEACHING: Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms

Since 1963, the summer field course, “Ecology and Systematics of Diatoms,” has been taught at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory near Spirit Lake, Iowa. I’ve been teaching this class since 2003 with Dr. Sarah Spaulding (UColo) and Dr. Marina Potapova (ANSP). Each year ten students plus visiting researchers from across the US and around the world gather for the only four-week course taught in North America focused specifically on diatoms. Learn more

Publications

See a full list of Dr. Mark Edlund’s publications here.

Assistant Scientist

Jason Ulrich

[email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow

Kui Hu

[email protected]
Operations Manager

Alaina Fedie

B.S., University of Wisconsin – River Falls: Art (emphasis in black & white photography), Minor in Geology, 2005

Phone: (651) 433-5953 ext. 15
email: [email protected]

Alaina joined the St. Croix Watershed Research Station full time in the fall of 2015 as a Laboratory Technician. She conducts various analyses of water and sediment samples on projects for staff scientists at the Research Station and other outside agencies. Most of her work takes place in the Main Lab using a variety of analytical machines and chemicals. She also does fieldwork which includes sediment coring, water sampling, data collection and prairie burns.

Alaina took a circuitous path to this job as she earned a B.S. degree in Art but ended up falling for the sciences when she took an Intro to Geology course at UWRF. She then proceeded to take nearly every geology class that was offered. Consequently, due to Alaina’s extensive background in the arts, her graphic design, photography and other artistic skills are often called upon by the Research Station staff.

In her off hours, Alaina can be found out taking nature photographs, in her studio building stained glass windows, working on needlework projects or camping in the great outdoors.

Laboratory Technician II

Erin Mortenson

B.S., University of Wisconsin at River Falls: (Conservation/Environmental Science), 2001

Phone: (651) 433-5953 ext. 21
email: [email protected]

Research Interests

I joined the scientific team at the St. Croix Watershed Research Station in 2002 after undergraduate work in environmental science and mathematics. I spent many hours at the Science Museum of Minnesota as a youth, as we had a family membership as far back as I can remember. My parents still have a membership to this day. My very favorite space at the previous museum building was a room full of rocks and gemstones on display.

As the senior lab technician at the Research Station, I have had a lot of experience with the majority of our lab procedures over the years, but on a typical day, you’ll actually find me managing the Lead-210 dating lab. This is a very special lab for the Research Station and very unique in the world. In this lab, I take lake sediment cores, analyze sediment intervals along that core with the aid of the naturally occurring radioisotope, Lead-210, and determine and apply historic dates to the deposited layers going back about 150 years. There’s lots of history stored at the bottom of our lakes! You can look at a lake core as a sort of time capsule. This work is essential for almost everything we analyze and study at the Research Station from nutrient concentrations to diatom populations. Lead-210 dating results allow us to connect time with an environmental change or event.

I also love organizing, so it’s no surprise that I took on the logging and arrangement of our sediment core archive. Did you know that we have over 500 lake cores archived at our facility? And nearly all have come from our own research projects. We collect more and more cores every year. The lakes of Minnesota are especially well-represented here at the Research Station.

As for my free time, I represent the introverts well. I love to write and I love discovering books, new and old, at the library. I love public television and try not to miss any specials on quantum physics, which I find fascinating. I’m a devoted classic movie fan and music, from Prince to Puccini, is a constant in my life. I’m also a big tennis fan and was able to attend one exciting day at the French Open in Paris in 2009. Going to Wimbledon would be a dream.

Lab Technician I

Jackalyn Wyrobek

[email protected]
Senior Scientist

Joy Ramstack Hobbs

[email protected]
Assistant Scientist

David Burge

[email protected]
Postdoctoral Fellow

Hailey Sauer

[email protected]
Lab Manager

Kelsey Boeff

[email protected]
Lab Technician I

Ari Pouchak

[email protected]

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