Cory Coverdell, Executive Director
Cory has been our Director since 2010 but started as a summer field instructor in 2008. He graduated from Montana State University in 2009 with a Bachelor’s degree in Geology, taking a special interest in sedimentology. When not in the prep lab, Cory can be found out in the field searching for dinosaurs and minerals. In 2011, he discovered a possible new species of nodosaur, an armored dinosaur.
Dave Trexler, Paleontologist
Dave is one of the Dinosaur Center’s founders, but his history with paleontology goes back even further. He has worked with baby dinosaurs, eggs, new species, rare skin & soft tissue impressions, and even a mummy dinosaur! He shares his time as paleontologist between the Dinosaur Center & the Great Plains Dinosaur Museum and acts as a consultant for many others. He has 15 publications under his belt, including a book on climate change.
While growing up on a ranch in rural Montana, Dave became well-versed in the art of welding and ironwork. This ability, coupled with his wealth of knowledge concerning dinosaur anatomy, has allowed Dave to supervise and create some of the finest dinosaur skeleton mounts and displays for a number of museums, including The Montana Dinosaur Center. This is in addition to his numerous publications on dinosaurs and related topics, his most recent being a general audience book on climate change from a paleontological perspective.
Dave has worked in the field of paleontology since the early 1970s. He and his family have been heavily involved in dinosaur nesting behavior research (Dave’s mother found the very first baby dinosaurs in a nest in the world!), and Dave has worked throughout western North America. He has worked with the The Montana Dinosaur Center since its founding in 1995. Dave is a degreed paleontologist, and his graduate work was a treatise on Maiasaura at the University of Calgary. Dave and his crew collected and prepared what was the only known specimen of a single adult individual of that species, and Dave’s work is still a desk reference for anyone working on duckbilled dinosaurs.
Dave’s love of dinosaurs is matched only by his love of flying, and he has spent many hours mapping possible dinosaur-bearing outcrops from the air!
Publications
- Becoming Dinosaurs: A Prehistoric Perspective on Climate Change Today. Farcountry Press, 2012.
- First report on a dinosaur “mummy” from the Judith River Formation. in Carpenter et al, eds., “Horns and Beaks,” Indiana University Press 2007.
- Geology and Taphonomy of the BS quarry. in Carpenter, et al, eds., “Thunder Lizards,” Indiana University Press, 2006.
- 4 chapters in Sage Publications “Encyclopedia of Anthropology”, H. James Birx, Ed., 2006
- First report on a long-faced daspletosaur from the Two Medicine Formation, Montana. in Carpenter, et al, eds., “Carnivorous Dinosaurs,” Indiana University Press, 2005.
- Two Medicine Formation, Montana: Geology and fauna. in Carpenter, et al, eds., “Mesozoic Vertebrate Life,” Indiana University Press, 2001.
- The First Bonebed Occurrence of a Basal Neoceratopsian, with New Information on the Skull Morphology of Leptoceratops. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19 (3) supplement, 1999 (Abstract).
- Articulated and Associated Pedal Elements from the Warm Springs Ranch. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 19 (3) supplement, 1999 (Abstract).
- Hadrosaurid Dinosaur Nest from the Upper Two Medicine Formation, Montana, Suggests Unusual Nest Building Strategy. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 17 (3) supplement, 1997 (Abstract).
- Preliminary Work on a Recently Discovered Ceratopsian (Dinosauria: Ceratopsidae) Bonebed from the Judith River Formation of Montana Suggests the Remains are of Ceratops montanus Marsh. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15 (3) supplement, 1995 (Abstract).
- A Detailed Description of Newly-Discovered Remains of Maiasaura peeblesorum (Reptilia: Ornithischia) and a Revised Diagnosis of the Genus. MSc. Thesis, University of Calgary, 1995. Unpublished.
- A New Specimen of Maiasaura (Reptilia: Ornithischia) from the Two Medicine Formation, Montana, and a Diagnostic Revision of the genus. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 14 (3) supplement, 1994 (Abstract).
- Additions to the Liverwort Flora of Naikoon Provincial Park, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, Canada. Evansia, 8(3): 74-77, 1991.
- The Family Radulaceae in North America West of the Hundredth Meridian. Lindbergia 16: 37-43, 1990.
- An Annotated Checklist of the Liverworts and Hornworts of Olympic National Park, Washington. Evansia 6(2): 33-52, 1989.