Curriculum Vitae
Cambrian carbonates with a view over Elgin Gol, northern Mongolia
Marissa J Betts
Senior Research Fellow in Earth Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, Australia
Employment history
Mar 2021 – Oct 2022: Lecturer in Earth Sciences, University of New England (Coordinating: GEOL120 Dynamic Earth, GEOL202 Introduction to Palaeontology, GEOL206 Field Mapping and Sedimentology. Contributing: GEOL110 Our Blue Planet, GEOL311 Palaeontology and Stratigraphy [guest lectures, practical classes and fieldtrips])
Feb 2017 – Feb 2021: Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer (Earth Sciences), University of New England
Sep 2017 – Sep 2021: Research Associate; Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, Department of Geology and State Key Laboratory of Continental Dynamics, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
Mar 2016 – Nov 2016: Tutor; Walanga Muru, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student engagement and strategy office, Macquarie University, Sydney
Dec 2012 – Dec 2016: Tutor, guest lecturer; Biological and Earth and Life Science departments, Macquarie University, Sydney
Jul 2012 – Dec 2016: ARC-funded Research Assistant (project DP120104251 to Brock & Paterson); Palaeobiology Laboratory, Macquarie University, Sydney.
Jul 2011 – Dec 2016: Research Assistant; heavy-liquid separation of sediment core from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), JOIDES Resolution Cruises, Bering Sea (2009), South China Sea (2014), Earth and Planetary Sciences Macquarie University, Sydney.
Jul 2010 – Jan 2011: Research Assistant; biomarker extraction in the Organic Geochemistry Laboratories, Earth and Planetary Sciences Macquarie University, Sydney.
Nov 2009 – Dec 2016: Research Assistant; picking benthic (modern) foraminifera for extreme event studies, acid processing rock samples for microfossil extraction, heavy liquid separation, microfossil picking and imaging (scanning electron microscopy) teaching and research material curation, Palaeobiology Laboratory, Macquarie University, Sydney
Academic qualifications
2016: Doctor of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Thesis title: Fossils, rocks and Cambrian clocks: A multi-proxy approach to chronologically subdividing the lower Cambrian of the Arrowie Basin, South Australia. Supervised by Professor Glenn A. Brock (Macquarie University) and Professor John R. Paterson (University of New England)
2012: Bachelor of Science, Honours (Palaeobiology) — First Class (95%), Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Thesis title: Small shelly fossils and archaeocyath bioherms from lower Cambrian Hawker Group carbonates at Moro Gorge, central Flinders Ranges. Supervised by Professor Glenn A. Brock (Macquarie University)
2010: Bachelor of Science (Geology and Palaeobiology), Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Prizes, honours and awards
2023: Stillwell Award for best paper published in the Australian Journal of Earth Sciences in 2020 (J. B. Jago, J. G. Gehling, M. J. Betts, G. A. Brock, C. R. Dalgarno, D. C. García-Bellido, P. G. Haslett, S. M. Jacquet, P. D. Kruse, N. R. Langsford, T. J. Mount & J. R. Paterson [2020]. The Cambrian System in the Arrowie Basin, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 67(7), 923–948. https://doi.org/10.1080/08120099.2018.1525431)
2022: Unit Commendation for coordination of GEOL120, Dynamic Earth (achieving an outstanding result in overall student satisfaction)
Oct 2022: Director and Producer of short film ROLA[STONE], winner in the Geoscience Professionals category, Earth Futures Film Festival (UNESCO, IUGS)
2022: TuneFM Academic of the Year (University of New England)
2022: Walter Howchin Medal awarded by the Geological Society of Australia (South Australia Division)
2021 – 2022: Selected as a Superstar of STEM, a two-year media training course designed to elevate the visibility of women in STEM, Science and Technology Australia
Nov – Dec 2021: Visiting researcher at the Geocentrum - Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Sep 2021: Unit Commendation for coordination of GEOL202 (T1 offering), Introductory Palaeontology (achieving an outstanding result in overall student satisfaction)
2021: NSW Young Tall Poppy Award, Australian Institute of Policy and Science
2021: A.H. Voisey Medal awarded by the Geological Society of Australia (New South Wales Division)
Jun 2019: North American Paleontological Convention Session Co-chair, Advances in understanding of Precambrian and Paleozoic life and environments
Dec 2019 – ongoing: Invited to be a Corresponding member of the International Subcommission on Cambrian Stratigraphy
Apr 2019: Visiting researcher at the Geocentrum - Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Apr 2019: Visiting researcher at the Swedish Museum of Natural History - Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden
2016: Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence (PhD thesis), Macquarie University
2015: Invited to be the Higher Degree Researcher Student Representative on the board of executives for Genes to Geoscience – a leading interdisciplinary working group fusing genomics, functional ecology, earth system science and palaeontology, Macquarie University
2012: Bill Cantwell Prize – for First Place in the Honours program in the Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University
Grants and funding
2024: PaleoSynthesis Project, Fossils, dates and tectonic plates
2022 – 2025: Vetenskapsrådet Project Grant, Engineering the Cambrian explosion: The role of reef environments as drivers of early animal evolution (Co-Investigator)
2022 – 2024: Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA), Australian Research Council, Fossils, dates and continental plates: Exploring the nexus between global palaeogeography and the rise of animal life, DE220101558
2020 – 2022: Arthur James Boucot Research Grant (Paleontological Society)
May 2019: Deutsche Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) funded research stay to the Freie Universität Berlin
2017 – 2020: Postdoctoral Fellowship funding, University of New England
2017– 2021: Research funding, Northwest University, Xian
2014: Betty Mayne Scientific Research Fund, Linnean Society of New South Wales
2014: Postgraduate Research Fund, travel grant
2012 – 2016: Macquarie University Research Fund (MQRES), PhD scholarship
Collaborations
2022 – 2023: Collaborating with Dr. Sarah Jacquet, University of Missouri on their American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund project, Scratching the disconformity surface: Formation of the lower Cambrian Flinders Unconformity and distal equivalents in the Arrowie Basin, South Australia
2021 – 2023: Collaborating with Dr Juraj Farkas, University of Adelaide on their ARC Discovery Project #DP210100462, Glauconite: An untapped archive recording the timing, pace and triggers of the Cambrian Radiation
2018: Collaborating with Dr. Sarah Jacquet, University of Missouri on their NSF-funded project, Plugging the preservational pipeline: an integrated approach to tracking taphonomic histories of Cambrian skeletal fossil assemblages
2017 – 2020: Collaborating with Dr Christian Skovsted, Swedish Museum of Natural History on their Vetenskapsrådet Project Grant #2016-04610, A shallow origin? – The development of animal skeletons during the earliest Cambrian
Courses
17th – 19th Feb, 2024: PADI Open Water Scuba Diver course, Jetty Dive, Coffs Harbour
1st Jun 2022: Fundamentals of Research Supervision and Research Supervision Masterclass by Hugh Kearns, Thinkwell
24th Jan 2022: UNE Selection Panel Training
5th Apr 2022: LGBTQAI+ Awareness and Inclusion Training Part 1, University of New England
12th – 16th Mar, 2018: Flügel International Course on Carbonate Microfacies, Freidrich-Alexander-Universität, Erlangen, Germany
12th – 13th Sept, 2015: Short Course in Sequence Stratigraphy. SEPM/EXXONMobil (AAPG+SEPM International Conference and Exhibition)
Invited academic seminars
7th Sept 2023: “Fossils and rocks, culture and communication”, Ralph Tate Memorial Lecture, SA Division of the Geological Society, Field Geology Society and Royal Society of South Australia
5 May 2023: “Tiny fossils, tectonics and the timescale”, University of Queensland Earth Science Seminar Series
13 Aug 2020: “Assembling the Small Shelly Jigsaw”, Geological Society of Australia – NSW Division invited talk (Zoominar)
22 May 2020: “Tackling big Cambrian questions with Small Shelly Fossils“, University of Adelaide Earth Sciences departmental seminar series (Zoominar)
26 Jan 2018: “Timescale Trouble”, Early Life Institute, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
27 Oct 2017: “Fossils, Rocks and Cambrian Clocks”, Department of Biological Sciences, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, SARPRC
9 Mar 2017: “Sieving the Small Stuff: Big stories from tiny fossils”, Life, Earth and Environment (LEE) seminar series, University of New England
25 Nov 2016: “Applying a new early Cambrian Timescale: Future Australian and Chinese collaborations”, Early Life Institute, Northwest University, Xi’an, China
Student supervision
ONGOING
2024 – 2028: Eleanor Beidatsch, Reconstructing the growth, taxonomy and functional morphology of early Cambrian armoured onychophorans (Masters project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Dr. Nic Campione).
2024 – 2026: Laurie Mills, Multi-proxy investigation of the lower Cambrian Uratanna Formation in the Arrowie Basin, South Australia (Masters project at the University of South Australia, adjunct supervisor. Primary supervisor Assoc. Prof. Justin Payne and co-supervisor Dr. Lily Reid).
2023 – 2024: Rose Gates, Reviewing proxies used to create Cambrian tectonic and palaeogeographic reconstructions (GEOL381 undergraduate project at UNE, primary supervisor).
2023 – 2026: Suwijai Jatupohnkhongchai, Tuffs, trilobites and tectonics: Integrating the early Cambrian volcanic and fossil records of East Gondwana (PhD project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Prof. John Paterson and Dr. Luke Milan).
2023 – 2026: Sherri Donaldson, Palaeoecological reconstruction of the Cretaceous Griman Creek Formation using freshwater invertebrate fauna and flora from Lightning Ridge, NSW, Australia (PhD project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Dr Phil Bell and Dr Nic Campione).
2022 – 2025: Stephanie Richter-Stretton, Three taphonomic windows: A vista on early animal evolution (PhD project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Prof. John Paterson).
2021 – 2024: Jack Jones, Lower Cambrian chronostratigraphy and glauconite ages for the western Stansbury Basin, South Australia (PhD project at MQ, adjunct supervisor. Primary supervisor Prof. Glenn Brock).
COMPLETED
2022 – 2024: Thomas Leckie, Biostratigraphy and radiometric age systematics of the Gamillaroi Terrane (Honours project at UNE, co-supervisor. Primary supervisor Dr Luke Milan).
2022 – 2024: Eleanor Beidatsch, Geometric morphometrics of Microdictyon (Honours project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Dr Nic Campione).
2023: Milena Schiering, Training in microfossil laboratory preparation methods and biostratigraphic research concepts. DAAD-funded undergraduate exchange student.
2021 – 2022: Courtney Birksmith, Cambrian Series 2 – Miaolingian boundary on Yorke Peninsula, South Australia (Masters project at MQ, adjunct supervisor. Primary supervisor Prof. Glenn Brock).
2022: Felix Jasper, Training in microfossil laboratory preparation methods and biostratigraphic research concepts. DAAD-funded undergraduate exchange student.
2021 – 2022: Stephanie Richter-Stretton, Bunkers Bonanza: multiproxy chronostratigraphy of the Second Plain Creek Member, Bunkers Graben, central Flinders Ranges (Honours project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Prof. John Paterson). Awarded the University Medal.
2021: Eleanor Beidatsch, Walking “worms” in ancient armour: Using morphometrics to analyse the problematic microfossil Microdictyon (GEOL381 undergraduate project at UNE, primary supervisor. Co-supervised by Dr Nic Campione).
Conferences / Session Convening
2024: Co-convener of session SSP4.2; Reconstructing Past Biodiversity, Environments and Climate using the Fossil Record. European Geosciences Union, General Assembly, Vienna Austria.
2019: Co-convener of a topical session; Advances in understanding of Precambrian and Paleozoic life and environments. North American Palaeontological Convention (NAPC) at University of California, Riverside.
Volunteering and Service
2023 – ongoing: Deputy Chair of the Gender, Diversity, Social Inclusion and Equity Working Group, Environmental and Rural Sciences, UNE
2023 – 2027: Webmaster for the Australasian Association of Palaeontologists (AAP)
2022 – 2026: Secretary of the International Subcommission for Cambrian Stratigraphy
2022 – ongoing: Member of Working Group 5 in the National Geotourism Strategy, Australian Geoscience Council (WG5: Develop geotourism in regional mining communities with potential geoheritage and cultural heritage sites)
2021 – ongoing: Member of the Gender, Diversity, Social Inclusion and Equity Working Group, Environmental and Rural Sciences, UNE
2019 – 2022: STEM Coach for Curious Minds Australia, an invitational program jointly delivered by the Australian Mathematics Trust and Australian Science Innovations designed to support high school girls in STEM
Feb 2011 – Jun 2011: Laboratory assistant, Research Institute of Global Change, School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh, Scotland (prepared fossil foraminifera for climate studies, picked live foraminifera, sampled coral cores for isotope analyses)
Outreach initiatives
2021 – ongoing: Coordinator of the Geology and Palaeontology Undergraduate Volunteer Program, University of New England
2021 – 2023: Host of SCI-FLICKS, monthly science-themed films and public talks held at the Belgrave Cinema, Armidale (collaboration between UNE Life, TuneFM and the Belgrave Cinema)
2021 – 2023: Host of SCI-FLICKS RADIO/PODCAST, a regular slot on UNE’s student radio station TuneFM where I interview Sci-Flicks speakers about the film and their research. The interviews are made available on Spotify as podcasts.
Jun 2021: Organised a “special series” of interviews dedicated to promoting LithoLabUNE (LLUNE) on the geoscientific podcast Gneiss Chats (part of Traveling Geologist’s Geology Podcast Network)
Outreach, public talks, other sci-comm
8 Sept 2023: Interview with Holly Cooke and Anthony Reid on their Podcast ‘Wonder; Conversations about Earth’ by the Geo Co.
7 Dec 2022: Interviewed about Sci-Flicks on Evenings with David Astle, ABC Radio Melbourne
14 Oct 2022: Invited panelist for the Earth Futures Festival screening event, held at the Australian Museum, Sydney
12 Oct 2022: Interviewed by Robyn Williams for The Science Show on ABC Radio National
15 Aug 2022: Invited panelist for Women in STEM: Leading in the field, part of the Sydney Science Trail events for Science Week 2022
17 Jun 2022: Invited panelist at the launch of the WOMEESA Peer Mentoring program
24 May 2022: Coffs Harbour Senior College Earth and Environmental Science visit - Mass Extinctions and Can You Outrun a Dinosaur?
Sep 2021: Interviewed about DECRA success on Mornings with Kristy Reading, ABC New England Northwest
Aug 2021: Interviewed about Curious Minds and girls in STEM with Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Cathy Foley on Focus with Cassie McCullagh, ABC Sydney
Jul 2021: Invited speaker at the Curious Minds 2020-2021 Winter Camp
Jun 2021: Interviewed about Young Tall Poppy success on Mornings with Kristy Reading, ABC New England Northwest
Jun 2021: Interviewed for the Gneiss Chats podcast
Jun 2021: Invited to speak about my experiences as a woman in STEM to the student Feminist Reading Group, Armidale Secondary College
May 2021: Interviewed about Geoscience at UNE and palaeontology field trips on Mornings with Kristy Reading, ABC New England Northwest
Feb 2021: Live podcast recording for Occam’s Razor, aired on the Science Show with Robyn Williams, ABC Radio National
Jan 2021: Invited panelist, International Day of Women and Girls in Science Forum, Education NSW
Nov 2020: Interviewed about Superstars of STEM on Mornings with Kristy Reading, ABC New England Northwest
2019 – 2020: Coordinator of the Life, Earth and Environment (LEE) fortnightly seminar series at UNE
Oct 2019: Public seminar for Dinos After Dark (Science in the Club, Armidale)
Aug 2019: Interviewed for the Palaeocast podcast
May 2019: Public seminar for A Pint of Science, Armidale
Mar 2019: Interviewed about my research for the Creepy But Curious radio program, ABC New England Northwest
Mar 2019: Interviewed for the In Situ Science podcast
May 2017: Invited to contribute to the Traveling Geologist blog; “The Cambrian Conundrum: Piecing together a half a billion year old jigsaw” (contribution translated into Mandarin)
2013, 2017, 2019: Invited guest tutor on seven-day Marine Biology Field Trip to Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Abbotsleigh Girls School, Sydney
2012, 2013, 2016: Science Education Outreach, Newington Boys College, Stanmore, Sydney
Jan 2015: National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISE); lecture and workshop about dinosaur trackways for high-school students
Memberships and Committees
AUGEN (Australasian Universities Geosciences Educators Network), Committee Member
Australasian Palaeontologists (Webmaster)
Geological Society of Australia
International Commission on Stratigraphy Medals Committee (Secretary)
Palaeontological Association (UK)
Paleontological Society (USA)
WOMEESA (Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Australia)
Peer reviewing / Editing
Australian Journal of Earth Science
Canadian Journal of Earth Science
Geology
Gondwana Research
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Nature
Nature Geoscience
Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
Cambro-Ordovician Volume VII, Australasian Palaeontologists Memoirs (Co-editor)
Field expeditions
Jul – Aug 2023: Salaany Gol, Khunkher Gol and Bayan Gol, Gobi-Altai Province, western Mongolia (three weeks, research)
June 2023: Cretaceous siliciclastic stratigraphy and fossils of the Surat Basin, SW Queensland (5 days, research)
March 2023: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous of the UK South Coast (7 days, volunteer driver for Uppsala University Masters field trip)
Aug 2022: Permian geology and palaeontology of the New South Wales South Coast (6 days, teaching)
Jun – Jul 2022: Bunkers Graben, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia (one week, research)
Sep 2021: Filming a virtual field trip for GEOL120, Dynamic Earth, New England area, NSW (one day, teaching)
Jun 2021: Bunkers Graben, Wilkawillina Gorge, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, South Australia (two weeks, research)
May 2021: GEOL202 Introductory Palaeontology field trip to Somerton, NSW (one day, teaching)
Oct 2020: Cretaceous opalised fossils at Lightning Ridge, NSW (one week, research)
Nov 2019: Elder, Chase and Bunkers Ranges, Flinders Ranges, South Australia (10 days, research)
Jul – Aug 2019: Khövsgöl region, northern Mongolia (three weeks, research)
Jun – Jul 2019: House Range, Utah and Bear River Range, Idaho and White-Inyo Mountains, Esmeralda County, Stewart’s Mill and Death Valley, California/Nevada (one week conference trip, NAPC, Riverside, California)
Aug – Sep 2018: Gobi-Altai Province, western Mongolia (three weeks, research)
Aug 2018: Three Gorges Area, Hubei Province (three days, with conference field trip)
Jun 2018: Elder Range, Flinders Ranges, South Australia (nine days, research)
Mar – Apr 2018: Luonan and Longxian counties, Shaanxi Province and Wuhai, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (day trips, research)
Jan 2018: Malong County, Yunnan Province (one week, research)
Sep 2017: Emu Bay Shale dig, Kangaroo Island, South Australia (one week, research)
Aug – Sep 2017: Gobi-Altai Province, western Mongolia (three weeks, research)
Jul 2017: Random Island, Fermuse, Newfoundland, Canada (four days, research)
Jul 2017: Mistaken Point, Western Newfoundland (one day conference excursion, ISECT, Memorial University, St John’s)
Nov 2016: Zhenba County, southern Shaanxi Province (one week, research)
Aug 2016: Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories (one week, research)
Jul 2016: Angorichina, north-central Flinders Ranges, South Australia (one week, research)
Apr 2016: Mt. Scott Range (inc. Ajax Mine), north-western Flinders Ranges, South Australia (three days, research)
Apr 2015, 2016: Geology of the South Coast of New South Wales (one week, teaching)
Sep 2014: Argentine Precordillera (four day conference trip, 4th IPC, Mendoza)
Sep 2014: High Atlas Mountains (five day conference trip, Ediacaran–Cambrian meeting, Ouarzazate)
Jul 2014: Fleurieu Peninsula (Sellick Hill Quarry and Myponga), South Australia (one week, research)
Jul 2013: Fleurieu Peninsula and western and central Flinders Ranges, South Australia (two weeks, research)
Dec 2011, 2016, 2019: Lake Keepit Geological Field Excursion, Somerton area, NSW (one week, teaching)
Jul 2012: Mt. Chambers Gorge and central Flinders Ranges, South Australia (two weeks, research)
Jul 2011: North-eastern Flinders Ranges, South Australia (one week, research)