Nicole Peavey
Nicole Peavey
Nicole Peavey
Micropaleontolgist & Mitigation Paleontologist
Nicole Peavey is a micropaleontologist and mitigation paleontologist. She works to protect and preserve fossils that are endangered by road construction projects.
Driven by a lifelong love of paleontology, Nicole received her B.A. in Geology from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, a master’s degree in Geosciences and Vertebrate Paleontology from Fort Hays State University in Kansas, and her Ph.D. in Geosciences from Texas Tech University. As a graduate student, she sought out summer internships and jobs that provided hands-on experience, including as a Paleontology Technician at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, a GeoCorps Paleontology Intern at Fossil Butte National Monument in Wyoming, and a Paleontology Intern at Dinosaur Field Station in Montana. For her Ph.D. research, Nicole studied Silurian (about 444 to 419 million years ago) conodonts, an extinct group of tiny jawless vertebrates (read more about conodonts on Anita Harris’s profile page).
Nicole first learned of mitigation paleontology when seeking employment in Colorado after a move. Mitigation paleontologists work to preserve fossils that are in danger of being destroyed by human activities like construction. Nicole’s first job in mitigation paleontology was at a consulting company surveying grasslands in areas to be tested for oil in the U.S. National Forest system. Currently, she is a staff paleontologist at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). At CDOT, Nicole works with museums and government agencies to identify and conserve fossils found around roads in Colorado. As part of her job, she undertakes mitigation procedures, meaning that she works to document, protect, and/or remove fossils that would otherwise be destroyed by road construction and maintenance. Nicole is also a part-time professor of geology and paleontology at Red Rocks Community College in Denver.
Daring to Dig Interview
In this interview, Nicole talks about why she wanted to become a paleontologist, how she began her career in mitigation paleontology, subtle bias that she has experienced in her career due to her gender and age, and how cultural messages about science being a masculine field may have influenced the way she presents herself. This interview was recorded in 2015.
Selected works by F. Nicole (Reynaud) Peavey
Barrick, J.E., M.A. Kleffner, M.A. Gibson, F.N. Peavey, and H.R. Karlsson. 2010. The mid-Ludfordian Lau Event and carbon isotope excursion (Ludow, Silurian) in southern Laurentia - Preliminary results. Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana 49: 13–33. Link
Peavey, F.N.R. 2013. Review, revision, and paleobiogeography of Ludlow (Silurian) to Lochkovian (Devonian) spathognathodontid conodont taxa. Ph.D. dissertation, Texas Tech University. Link
Reynaud, F.N. 2006. Hind limb and pelvis proportions of Hesperornis regalis: A comparison with extant diving birds. Master’s thesis, Fort Hayes State University. Link
Further reading
Davis, J. 2010. Grad student describes toothy microfossils at Geological Society of America meeting. Texas Tech University, 1 November 2010. Link
Steadman, C. 2016. Fossils unearthed by Golden highway construction. Arvada Press, 30 March 2016. Link