Zoom Meeting.

Jacob Jett is the Operations Manager for Triebold Paleontology, Inc. He started part time in Spring of 2004 as a junior in high school and has since worked his way up. He has approximately 5000 hours of fossil preparation experience, has led the reconstruction efforts on dozens of skeletons, and has extensive molding and casting experience. For 20 years he has done field work in the Niobrara chalk of Kansas, the Judith River formation in Montana, and the Hell Creek formation in South Dakota. He currently oversees the production staff and project development.

My name is Jacob and I dig up dinosaurs. I started my professional paleontology career while I was still in high school. In lieu of participating in sports or finding a date to prom, I opted to forego a promising career at Taco Bell and talked my way onto the staff at a new local dinosaur museum. I like to focus on the hands-on aspects of paleontology. I spend my summers in the badlands, I’ve got about 5000 hours of fossil preparation experience, I’ve led the reconstruction efforts for over a dozen skeletons, and I have extensive molding and casting experience. My favorite work (by far) is fossil preparation. I love the feeling of intense concentration, I love sitting in the lab cleaning the rock from the bone, and I love watching the fossil really turn into something recognizable.

Everyone who wants to work with fossils should do two things: 1) find a way to pursue it, even if it means you aren’t doing it for a paycheck and you have to spend you weekends at it, and 2) take a shop class- you’ll need it.