The 28th annual Tate Conference will be held Friday June 7 through Sunday June 9, 2024.  The theme this year:

The Jurassic: Death, Diversity and Dinosaurs

The Tate Conference features a day of speakers (Saturday June 8) and two days of field trips (June 7 and 9).  Saturday evening includes a dinner and Keynote Speaker.

This year’s Keynote is Matt Wedel of Western University of Health Sciences.  Matt is co-author of The Sauropod Dinosaurs: Life in the Age of Giants and co-producer of the SVPOW website… Sauropod Vertebra of the Week.  His talk is titled

The Sauropod Heresies: Evolutionary Ratchets, the Taphonomic Event Horizon, and All the Evidence We Cannot See

Speakers 

Brent Breithaupt, Bureau of Land Management

“The 125th Anniversary of the Discovery and Loss of the ‘Colossal’ Brontosaurus giganteus and the Events that Led  to the Discovery of the ‘Star Spangled’ Dinosaur Diplodocus carnegii known as Dippy”

Kelli Trujillo, University of Wyoming

“The Age of the Morrison Formation: What we know, how we know it, and what we still need to learn”

Russell Hawley, Tate Geological Museum at Casper College

“Window on the Jurassic: The Art and Science of Reconstructing the Morrison Palæoenvironment”

Joseph Petersen, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

“Digitally reconstructing the skull of the Upper Jurassic sphenodontian Eilenodon robustus.”

Melissa Connely, Stratigraphic Rex

“Como Bluff – The Original Jurassic Park”

Ethan Cowgill, Weber State University

“King of the Jurassic: cranial morphology of a new specimen of Torvosaurus (Theropoda: Megalosauridae) from the Upper Jurassic Morrison Formation, Colorado, U.S.A.”

Riley Sombathy, Ohio University

“Osteohistology of the Theropod Dinosaur Ceratosaurus.”

Julian Diepenbrock, University of Wyoming

“The Laramie Pipeline Dinosaurs: Continued Research on a Multi-Generic Morrison Formation Site in Southern Wyoming”.

Cary Woodruff, Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science

“Andrew: The Little Gant”

Stephanie Drumheller, University of Tennessee

“Life After Death: Scavenging, Cannibalism, and Insect Damage on Dinosaurian Remains from the Jurassic Morrison Formation.”

Matthew Mossbrucker, Morrison Museum Natural History

A Review of Lakes-Marsh AtlantosaurusBeds at Morrison, Colorado.

And featuring the Casper College Student Showcase talks with

Rachel Stevens

“A Quick Tour of The Tate Geological Museum’s recent exploits in the Jurassic”

Shaedon Kennedy

“Sailing the Sundance Sea: a brief look into the Paleobiota of the Sundance Formation.”

Registration 

To register click on the link below.  We are not doing online registration, so print the form, fill it out and send it to:

Tate Museum
125 College Drive
Casper, WY 82601

Registration form available here.

Registration deadline is June 3rd.

See also information about lodging for the conference.

The Fujita Family Stipend–

Casper College graduate and Tate Museum intern, Lisa Fujita, started this fund in honor of her family to help pay for conference registration for interested Casper College students.  We are accepting donations to keep this fund and its cause going; feel free to donate to this fund on the registration form.  We have also been known to pass the hat during the conference to keep CC students attending.   : )

Field Trips–

Note: Field trips are open to conference attendees only.

Friday, June 7

We will drive to Alcova Reservoir southwest of Casper to look at Jurassic rocks including the marine Sundance Formation and the terrestrial Morrison Formations that are well exposed in the area.  Stops will include the site where pterosaur tracks were first discovered in the Windy Hill Sandstone, and an in situ sauropod site where the Tate Museum collected a pair of feet.  If time allows, we will also visit an ichthyosaur site.  These sites are all on BLM land, so private collecting of fossil bones is not allowed. Any significant vertebrate fossils found will be collected under BLM permit number PA10-WY-191 and reposited at the Tate Geological Museum. There will be opportunities to collect some marine invertebrates; the Sundance is locally rich in belemnites.  Lunch will be served.

Sunday, June 9

We will visit the historic Como Bluff near the town of Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  This site is an integral part of the famous dinosaur wars between Marsh and Cope of the late 1800s.  We will also visit the Bone Cabin, a 1930s era tourist trap built of dinosaur bones.  The trip will focus on the history of the area from a paleontological perspective as well as a visit to the ongoing dig site called Nail Quarry.  There is also a dinosaur track site in the area that we will visit.

Both field trips require some walking on natural terrain, and are therefore not wheelchair friendly.    

If you have any questions, please contact JP Cavigelli by email or by phone 307-268-3008.

Lodging

We will have blocks of rooms reserved at the Ramkota Hotel for the pre-tax price of $89.  Give them a call to reserve one of these rooms and make sure to tell them you are with the Tate Geological Museum group.  Rooms need to be reserved before May 6th to get this group rate. 

The Ramkota offers both airport pickup and shuttles around town, including to the Tate Museum.

Ramkota Hotel and Conference Center – Casper
800 N. Poplar
Casper, WY 82601

Ramkota: (307-266-6000)