Rebecca McKean is an associate professor of geology, focusing on vertebrate paleontology with a specialty in sedimentology and plesiosaurs (marine reptiles that lived at the same time as dinosaurs). She combines these interests to study environments and taphonomy (fossil preservation), primarily from the Tropic Shale rock formation in southern Utah.
McKean travels to Utah whenever possible to search for new fossil sites of vertebrates such as plesiosaurs, fish, sharks and turtles. She brings specimens back to the fossil prep lab in the Gehl-Mulva Science Center (GMS) for careful preparation and study.
Her passion for undergraduate student-faculty collaborative research projects is an outgrowth of her undergraduate experience at St. Norbert College. She enjoys taking students into the field whenever possible, and has led trips around Wisconsin, Arizona, Utah, South Dakota and Nicaragua.
GEOL 105 Geology
GEOL 107 Environmental Geology
GEOL 275 Historical Geology
GEOL 280 Introduction to Paleontology
GEOL 322 Sedimentology and Stratigraphy
B.S. – Geology, St. Norbert College
M.S. – Geology, Northern Arizona University
Ph.D. – Geosciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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