Liz Johnson Master's student North Carolina State University Department of Marine, Earth, Atmospheric Sciences Chair:  Dr. Mary Schweitzer CoChair: Dr. Julia Clarke

I received my Bachelor of Science in Geology at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT in 2007. For my undergraduate thesis research, I focused on trying to identify mechanisms of rapid mineralization and taphonomic processes that might act to preserve coprolites in the rock record.  Coprolites, even dinosaur coprolites, are fairly common in some Montana regions, but it isn’t intuitive that they would survive, so understanding the chemistry of how that might occur was a challenge.  I have chosen to continue this area of research, but have broadened to include the study of processes of fossilization at the chemical/molecular level. I will focus in particular on fossilization processes and pathways that facilitate the preservation of soft tissue in bone for millions of years.