Paul Sereno

Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. One of his widely publicized discoveries includes a nearly complete specimen of Sarcosuchus imperator commonly referred to as SuperCroc, sail-backed spinosaurids Suchomimus and Spinosaurus. Widely publicized archaeological finds were made at Gobero, a site he discovered preserving intact burials from prehistoric cultures living in a formerly Green Sahara.

Biography

Youth and education The son of a mail carrier and a celebrated art teacher in elementary schools in the Chicago suburb of Naperville, Illinois, Sereno graduated from Naperville Central High School in 1975. Aiming to be a studio artist, he enrolled later that year as an undergraduate at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Illinois. In 1978 during his junior year, a trip to the American Museum of Natural History in New York changed the course of his career.

Academic career

Early career In 1979 Sereno entered Columbia University as a graduate student with office space at the American Museum of Natural History. In 1984, he conducted an 8-month research expedition abroad to study dinosaur evolution for his dissertation. This work took him to the Flaming Cliffs of Outer Mongolia, a site previously explored by Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s, where dinosaur eggs and Velociraptor fossils had been discovered.

In 1987 Sereno received a Ph.D. degree in Geological Sciences from Columbia University, his dissertation focusing on the parrot-beaked dinosaur Psittacosaurus and the evolution of ornithischian dinosaurs. Teaching Sereno taught human anatomy to medical students. He also taught Dinosaur Science, a class that included field trips to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming. During these field trips, Sereno discovered a subadult Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton and a dinosaur mummy zone. Sereno taught another course, From Fossils to Fermi's Paradox, which featured university scholars discussing evidence for the evolution of intelligence on Earth and the possibility of intelligence elsewhere.

Research

Sereno's research combines insights into the morphology of fossils with an artistic background that facilitates visualization in two and three dimensions using artistic renderings, surface and computed tomographic scans and animation. Well-illustrated papers describe new dinosaurs and more distant species and new methodologies for documenting the past.

Science learning and civic engagement Science learning In 1998, Sereno co-founded Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization. In 2021, Sereno founded the Scitopia Foundation, a non-profit science education organization. Scitopia Chicago, the foundation's flagship institution, launched on the south side of Chicago in 2026.

Scitopia Chicago offers science programs and labs for teens conducted outside school hours. The facility houses multiple civic institutions on a single site, including a library, community center, conservatory, zoo, aquarium, and museum. Civic engagement Fossil Lab In the 1940s, the University of Chicago closed its Walker Museum, which had housed collections of recent and fossil specimens and a fossil preparation laboratory. In 2024, Sereno opened a fossil laboratory with 6,000 square feet in the adjacent Washington Park neighborhood. Extinct taxa described by Sereno or his team

Dinosaurs Aerosteon Afrovenator Significant new material of Carcharodontosaurus, including Carcharodontosaurus iguidensis) Deltadromeus Eocarcharia Eodromaeus Eoraptor Erliansaurus Graciliceratops Significant new material of Herrerasaurus Jobaria Kryptops Neimongosaurus Nigersaurus Pegomastax Three new species of Psittacosaurus (P. meileyingensis, P. xinjiangensis, P. gobiensis) Rajasaurus Raptorex Rugops Significant new material of Spinosaurus aegyptiacus Spinosaurus mirabilis Significant new material of Sinornithomimus. Spinostropheus Suchomimus

Other fossil reptiles Marasuchus, an early relative of dinosaurs "The African Pterosaur" Sarcosuchus imperator Anatosuchus minor from Niger Araripesuchus rattoides from Niger and Morocco Kaprosuchus saharicus from Niger and Morocco Laganosuchus thaumastos from Niger and Morocco Laganosuchus maghrebensis from Niger and Morocco

Documentaries featuring Sereno and his discoveries In addition to his many discoveries in the field, public communication has been a big part of Sereno's career.