Hermsen Lab

Drawing of a waterfall by Sarah Hall (from Daring to Dig: Women in American Paleontology ) A news story on the "Daring to Dig" exhibit was recently published in the  Ithaca Voice.  The story provides a short overview of the exhibit and its development, as well as quotes from those who contributed to creating the exhibit content and design. Read it here:  https://ithacavoice.com/2021/05/museum-of-the-earth-exhibit-excavates-women-scientist-stories/

Flipper of Plesiosaur macrocephalus , cast of a fossil found by Mary Anning in 1830 On March 27, the Daring to Dig: Women in American Paleontology exhibit opened in-person and online at the Museum of the Earth . I helped create the content for the online and physical exhibits, along with many other contributors.  Visit the exhibit here:  https://www.museumoftheearth.org/daring-to-dig List of contributors (bottom of page):  https://www.museumoftheearth.org/daring-to-dig/looking-to-the-future

  I have released a new page on Branching to the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life. You can view it here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/tracheophytes/branching/ Image explanation:  Branching in fossil plants.  Left: Stem of a scale tree ( Lepidodendron ) showing a dichotomy. Center:  Asterophyllites  (an extinct horsetail-like plant) with lateral branching. Right. Branch of dawn redwood ( Metasequoia occidentalis ) with branchlets; branching is lateral and axillary in conifers.  (Images by Fiona O'Brien, Robert Swerling, and Linda S. Klise, Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, via GBIF).

Title for my Botany 2020 presentation I attended the Botany 2020 virtual conference, where I presented a talk on fossil passionflower seeds from Gray Fossil Site. I also coauthored a poster on the phylogeny of fossil and living mosquito ferns. The talks and links to the abstracts are below: Hermsen, E.J.*  2020. Fossil  Passiflora  seeds from Gray Fossil Site (Pliocene, Tennessee, U.S.A.).  Link to abstract Jud, N.*, F. De Benedetti,  E.J. Hermsen , and M. Gandolfo. 2020. Estimating the phylogeny of  Azolla : a comparison between analysis of morphology and molecular data with and without tip-dating. [Poster]  Link to abstract

Leaves of different vascular plants (left to right: shining firmoss, a tree fern, and a cycad) I have posted a new page on Leaf Structure & Evolution to the Digital Encyclopedia of Ancient Life. You can view it here:  https://www.digitalatlasofancientlife.org/learn/embryophytes/tracheophytes/leaves/

I was featured on episode 5 of Paleo Talks, speaking on the subject of Gray Fossil Site plants. The full episode is now available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UyLfhJHSzWQ

Left: Fossil seed of Corylopsis grisea , Gray Fossil Site. Right: Modern Corylopsis  seed. Credit: E.J. Hermsen. East Tennessee State University has released a story about the two new plant species that I recently co-authored from Gray Fossil Site: Corylopsis grisea Quirk & Hermsen and Cavilignum pratchettii Siegert & Hermsen. First authors on the species are Zack Quirk (currently a graduate student at the University of Michigan) and Caroline Siegert (alumna, Ohio University). Read about the new species here: Fossil plants provide clues to changing environments in Tennessee's past .