This interview originally aired on In the Moment on SDPB Radio.
Laurie Anderson, Ph.D., has many titles. She is a paleontologist, geologist, researcher, professor, department head and museum director at South Dakota Mines.
She's now the first woman to be named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science while working at a state university. Dr. Anderson joins In the Moment to discuss this distinguished honor, making history and her research on invertebrate fossils.
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Lori Walsh:
You're listening to In The Moment on South Dakota Public Broadcasting. I'm Lori Walsh.
Well, a South Dakota scientist has received one of the most distinguished honors in the scientific community, and by doing so, she has made some history. Dr. Laurie Anderson is the first woman in South Dakota to be named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science while working at a state university.
She's with us now in our Black Hill Surgical Hospital studio there in Rapid City. Dr. Anderson, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Thank you very much.
Lori Walsh:
This is one of those days we all love being in South Dakota, and we get frustrated sometimes about the things that we can't figure out, and we're grounding ourselves today with the women who are figuring some things out. So congratulations. What does this mean to you in this community of scientists?
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Well, it was a very great honor to be awarded this fellowship. I didn't know that someone had nominated me. It was really quite a surprise. And in fact, when I got the first email about it, I thought it was spam.
Lori Walsh:
Delete, report as phish.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Exactly.
Lori Walsh:
No, no. You're in this section on geology and geography. So tell us a little bit about your work and help us understand the things that drive you to do the science that you do.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Okay. So yeah, I am a geologist by training. I'm a paleontologist by expertise, and I work on invertebrate organisms, so anything without a backbone. And I guess what drives me is just once you start looking at something, there's always 10 more questions that pop up after that, and that just keeps you going day to day.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. Who invited you into the world of science? Were there other women who opened doors for you? Were the other men who intentionally said, "Make sure she has a seat at the table," in this sort of glass ceiling world?
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Well, I would say it starts with actually my family. My mom in the 1930s was a chemistry major in college, and then both of my sisters were biology majors in college. And so it was just the thing to do is go and do some science in college.
So I went to college and I was going to be a high school teacher in biology, and actually I was doing music too. And for life science certification in Minnesota, you had to take two geology classes, and I had convinced myself that I would hate those courses. And I got into the first course and by the end of the semester, or actually the end of the quarter, I had become a geology major in addition to my first two majors.
And I think what really drove me was the labs and the geology courses were all about solving puzzles rather than memorizing things, and that just sparked me to actually be challenged to figure things out. And from there on, I went to graduate school, but I think it was that geology course that really set me on my way.
Lori Walsh:
What is the puzzle of the fossilization process of clams or oysters that keeps you up at night? Because I'm all in already just hearing that.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Oh, there's so many different things that you can look at with invertebrate fossils, clams, oysters, things like that. Because I had background in biology and I also had geology background, my approach has been to take analyses and tools that we use in paleontology and apply it to modern systems.
So some of the work that I've done includes studies of oysters and other marine life affected by the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, collaborating with a number of biologists to look at the ecology of clams that live in sea grass beds in tropical parts of the US and nearby Bahamas, and really looking at how the parts of an organism that can be preserved in the fossil record can be related to how they operated as a living organism.
Lori Walsh:
Fascinating stuff. I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about your leadership at Mines from an administrative standpoint and from really inviting the next generation of scientists to do their best work.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Yeah. I serve as the Head of the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering at South Dakota Mines, and I'm also the director of the Museum of Geology on campus. And those opportunities, the opportunities I've had over the last 12 years to work with faculty, work with leadership, and especially to work with students as they make progress towards their degrees has been really rewarding and very enjoyable. And having that opportunity to both be a scientist, but also be a teacher, and being an advocate for those people that I am charged with taking care of is a tremendous responsibility, but a great joy as well.
Lori Walsh:
Yeah. You are a musician, but not the musician, Laurie Anderson.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
No.
Lori Walsh:
But I do hope that you know who Laurie Anderson is because-
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
I do!
Lori Walsh:
You do. Good. You and I are the only ones here listening to this who are-
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Well, one of her albums was entitled Big Science, so.
Lori Walsh:
Yes, exactly. That's what I was asking you.
Oh, congratulations. Thank you so much for this. We hope to talk to you much more in the future.
Dr. Laurie Anderson:
Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
