.jpg)
Recent from talks
Paul Sereno
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Paul Sereno
Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. One of his widely publicized discoveries includes a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator commonly referred to as SuperCroc, sail-backed spinosaurids Suchomimusand Spinosaurus.Widely publicized archaeological finds were made at Gobero, a site he discovered preserving intact burials from prehistoric cultures living in a formerly Green Sahara.
The son of a mail carrier and a celebrated art teacher in elementary schools in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, Sereno graduated from Naperville Central High School in 1975. Aiming to be a studio artist, he enrolled later that year as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. In 1978 during his junior year, a trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York changed the course of his career.
In 1979 Sereno entered Columbia University as a graduate student with office space at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1984, he conducted an 8-month research expedition abroad to study dinosaur evolution for his dissertation. This work took him to the Flaming Cliffs of Outer Mongolia, a site previously explored by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s, where dinosaur eggs and Velociraptor fossils had been discovered.
In 1987 Sereno received a Ph.D. degree in Geological Sciences from Columbia University, his dissertation focusing on the parrot-beaked dinosaur Psittacosaurus and the evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs.
Sereno taught human anatomy to medical students. He also taught Dinosaur Science, a class that included field trips to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. During these field trips, Sereno discovered a subadult Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and a dinosaur mummy zone. Sereno taught another course, From Fossils to Fermi's Paradox, which featured university scholars discussing evidence for the evolution of intelligence on Earth and the possibility of intelligence elsewhere.
Sereno's research combines insights into the morphology of fossils with an artistic background that facilitates visualization in two and three dimensions using artistic renderings, surface and computed tomographic scans and animation. Well-illustrated papers describe new dinosaurs and more distant species and new methodologies for documenting the past.
In 1998, Sereno co-founded Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization. In 2021, Sereno founded the Scitopia Foundation, a non-profit science education organization. Scitopia Chicago, the foundation's flagship institution, launched on the south side of Chicago in 2026.
Scitopia Chicago offers science programs and labs for teens conducted outside school hours. The facility houses multiple civic institutions on a single site, including a library, community center, conservatory, zoo, aquarium, and museum.
Hub AI
Paul Sereno AI simulator
(@Paul Sereno_simulator)
Paul Sereno
Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. One of his widely publicized discoveries includes a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator commonly referred to as SuperCroc, sail-backed spinosaurids Suchomimusand Spinosaurus.Widely publicized archaeological finds were made at Gobero, a site he discovered preserving intact burials from prehistoric cultures living in a formerly Green Sahara.
The son of a mail carrier and a celebrated art teacher in elementary schools in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, Sereno graduated from Naperville Central High School in 1975. Aiming to be a studio artist, he enrolled later that year as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. In 1978 during his junior year, a trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York changed the course of his career.
In 1979 Sereno entered Columbia University as a graduate student with office space at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1984, he conducted an 8-month research expedition abroad to study dinosaur evolution for his dissertation. This work took him to the Flaming Cliffs of Outer Mongolia, a site previously explored by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s, where dinosaur eggs and Velociraptor fossils had been discovered.
In 1987 Sereno received a Ph.D. degree in Geological Sciences from Columbia University, his dissertation focusing on the parrot-beaked dinosaur Psittacosaurus and the evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs.
Sereno taught human anatomy to medical students. He also taught Dinosaur Science, a class that included field trips to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. During these field trips, Sereno discovered a subadult Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and a dinosaur mummy zone. Sereno taught another course, From Fossils to Fermi's Paradox, which featured university scholars discussing evidence for the evolution of intelligence on Earth and the possibility of intelligence elsewhere.
Sereno's research combines insights into the morphology of fossils with an artistic background that facilitates visualization in two and three dimensions using artistic renderings, surface and computed tomographic scans and animation. Well-illustrated papers describe new dinosaurs and more distant species and new methodologies for documenting the past.
In 1998, Sereno co-founded Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization. In 2021, Sereno founded the Scitopia Foundation, a non-profit science education organization. Scitopia Chicago, the foundation's flagship institution, launched on the south side of Chicago in 2026.
Scitopia Chicago offers science programs and labs for teens conducted outside school hours. The facility houses multiple civic institutions on a single site, including a library, community center, conservatory, zoo, aquarium, and museum.
Recent media