Dr. Maureen O’Leary on “Collecting Fossils in the Sahara Desert of Mali”

Posted on October 5, 2019 by Clara Tran

On September 17, 2019, Dr. Maureen O’Leary presented the first Fall STEM Lecture at the University Libraries about her late 1990s expeditions in the Sahara Desert of Mali.

The current region of the Sahara Desert was once the ancient Trans-Saharan Seaway of Africa, which existed 50 to 100 million years ago and had an abundance of aquatic species. Dr. O’Leary and her team discovered dinosaur, mammal, other vertebrates, and extinct plant fossils. Fossils that Dr. O’Leary and her team discovered are housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

During her talk, Dr. O’Leary also provided her expert advice to students on planning for a potential project, and how and where to get grant funding for their research. Her advice is extremely helpful for students!

The informative lecture was well-attended by a large audience including students, faculty and staff across the East and West campus. After the lecture, Dr. O’Leary engaged audiences with a rich discussion about her expeditions. Dr. O’Leary later said, “I was so happy to see so many attentive students there.”