Natalie R. Dastas,^1,2,*,** John A. Chamberlain Jr.<sup>1,2,3,***

1</sup>Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
²Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY, USA
³Department of Biology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

^*CONTACT Natalie R. Dastas natalie.dastas@brooklyn.cuny.edu Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA.
^**NATALIE R. DASTAS is an Earth and Environmental Sciences, Ph.D. candidate at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. She concluded her undergraduate studies at Brooklyn College in the fall of 2009 completing a B.S. in Geology and a B.A. in Earth Science Education. She was accepted into the NSF Bridge to Doctorate Fellowship program in 2010 where she continued her studies at Brooklyn College to acquire a master's degree in EES under the advisement of paleontologist, Dr. John A. Chamberlain, Jr. Natalie earned a M.A. degree and defended her thesis in 2013 entitled, ‘Dinoflagellates of the Clayton Formation, SE Missouri, as an Indication of Time Through the K/Pg Mass Extinction Event'. Her current area of research has expanded on this work to include additional sites along the western and eastern margins of the Mississippi Embayment region. From 2015–2018 she worked for the NYC-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) Program for STEM majors as an Activity Coordinator, Graduate Student Advisor and Peer Mentoring Trainer. She currently holds a teaching assistantship and adjunct lecturer position in the EES Dept. at Brooklyn College, CUNY.
^***JOHN A. CHAMBERLAIN, JR. received his training in paleontology at Johns Hopkins University, the University of Rochester, and McMaster University. He is now a professor at Brooklyn College where he has been a member of the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department since 1973. He is also a member of the City University of New York doctoral programs in Biology and in Earth and Environmental Sciences. Over the years, he has studied a wide array of fossil and modern organisms from dinosaurs to dinoflagellate cysts. His current interests include Cretaceous/Paleogene dinoflagelate cysts of the American mid-continent; orthoconic nautliloid hydrostatics; Devonian freshwater bivalves of the Catskill region of New York; fractal patterns in ammonite septal sutures; and Holocene fossiliferous concretions of the New York Bight.