Armed with field books, rock hammers and chisels, Aaron Pan ’07 searched among the large boulders and outcrops in northwest Ethiopia for fossilized plants, ancient clues that may yield new information for climate scientists about the composition of ancient forests and the paleoclimate.
Aaron Pan in Ethiopia.
Pan’s dig earlier this year is part of a new research project in the Mush Deposits of northwestern Ethiopia. Other members of the research team are two associate professors in SMU’s Huffington Department of Earth Sciences – paleobotanist Bonnie Jacobs and sedimentologist Neil Tabor – as well as geologist Ellen Currano from Miami University.
Their data will provide an understanding of the evolutionary history of modern African forests and provide information that can help in the development of more accurate climate models.
Now the curator of science at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Pan first traveled to Ethiopia in 2003 as an SMU doctoral student in paleobotany. His discovery of fossilized palm species suggests that African prehistoric forests contained many more species of palms than now can be found.
“Today Africa has about 70 species of palms,” Pan says. “This is compared to 550 species in South and Central America, and around 1,000 species in Southeast Asia. In Africa, most of the palms don’t occur in forests, and in other parts of the world, they do. We’re trying to find out why there’s such a difference.”
In middle school, Pan knew that science would be his future. By the time he had earned a B.A. in biology at the University of California – Santa Barbara, his focus had turned to paleontology and paleobotany.
“Plants tell a lot about the prehistoric community and the climate,” he says.
For graduate school, Pan chose SMU for its strong Earth Sciences department and Bonnie Jacobs’ work in Africa.
“Aaron arrived with a wonderful earth sciences background and a desire to work in the tropics,” says Jacobs, who was Pan’s doctoral adviser. “Early on he could pursue research on his own and understand its significance, an ability that doesn’t always come easily.”
Pan continues his research while heading up the Fort Worth Museum’s science department. He is charged with the care and maintenance of its approximately 115,000 specimens that represent a full range of scientific disciplines, from botany to zoology. He is involved in planning lectures and programming for the museum, which opened a new $80 million facility in November 2009, and assists museum visitors who want to discuss their own fossil finds.
One day Pan hopes to launch a new exploration of fossilized vegetation in Southeast Asia. “Biodiversity has always amazed me,” he says. “And paleontology shows how these diverse groups have radiated over time.”
– Cherri Gann