Bill Akersten

William A. (Bill) Akersten is the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology and Head of the Earth Sciences Division at the Idaho Museum of Natural History and an Affiliate Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University. He was born in Detroit, Michigan and moved to rural northeastern Ohio at an early age. Bill received his BS and MA in Geology (Vertebrate Paleontology) from the University of Texas at Austin and a PhD from the University of Michigan in Geology (Vertebrate Paleontology). From 1972 to 1985, he worked for the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County as Coordinator of the Rancho La Brea Project, Curator of Rancho La Brea, and Curator of Pleistocene Vertebrates before coming to Idaho. His wife, Sue Vander Brook, teaches ESOL at Idaho State University; they have one daughter, Holly Bambolo, and a grandson, Oscar William, plus three large dogs and a snake. Bill especially enjoys the hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities which abound in the Pocatello area.

E-mail: akerwill@isu.edu

Phone: 282-4154

My research interests include the taxonomy, ecology, and paleogeography of Late Miocene through Recent mammals, vertebrate taphonomy, and functional mrphology.

Current Projects:

Turtles of the American Falls local fauna (Sangamon)

Genesis of the Rancho La Brea fossil deposits

A new species of Goniodontomys from the Hemphillian of Idaho

The Notch Butte local fauna (Hemphillian - Blancan of Idaho)

A small Pleistocene Cave Fauna from south central Idaho.

Jaguar Cave, Idaho is not an occupation site.

Paleoecology of the Pleistocene microfauna from Jaguar Cave, Idaho.

The functions of avian air sac diverticula and implications for sauropod vertebral biomechanics.

Composition, microstructure, genesis, and function of the red "pigmentation" in sorcine teeth