Philip D. Gingerich
Professor and Director
Museum of Paleontology
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI
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 A.B.,
Princeton University
Ph.D.,
Yale University |
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Philip Gingerich is
a Professor and Director of the Museum of Paleontology.
Paleontology involves study of life through the geological past
and into the present, which enhances understanding of both our
place in nature now and
our sense of the future to come. |
 |
"Combine
hands-on work experience with classroom teaching, because it is the
hands-on experience that will teach you whether you have the passion for
biology required to be successful." |
What
fields of biology do you work in?
Gingerich:
Paleontology.
Q:
When did you know you wanted to become a Biologist?
Gingerich:
I always enjoyed biology at school.
Q:
What was your college experience like?
Gingerich:
Enriching and intense as I took every biology,
paleontology, and geology course available.
Q:
Did you incorporate work experiences while you were an undergrad?
Gingerich:
Yes, I did research projects for professors and
wrote a senior thesis, part of which became my first scientific
publication.
Q:
How did you get your first job?
Gingerich:
Applied, interviewed, and got the position
straight out of
graduate school.
Q:
What's the most rewarding thing about being a Biologist?
Gingerich:
Comparison of a world without humans to the world
we life in today: the earth is very old, and there has been literally a
billion years of life on earth before we arrived on the scene.
Q:
Is there an example you can provide that shows how something you've
worked on has positively impacted the world?
Gingerich:
I am probably best known for documenting the
transition of artiodactyl land mammals to aquatic whales in the fossil
record. I have also been able to show that evolution can be (and usually
is) very fast on the time scale of the process itself: slow change in
the fossil record is an artifact of time averaging.
Q:
Do you spend a fair amount of time traveling?
Gingerich:
I travel a lot in the U.S. and in Europe, and have
ongoing field projects in Wyoming, Egypt, and Pakistan.
Q:
Do you have a mentor? Or did you in your college years?
Gingerich:
I worked closely with several professors in
college and in graduate school, and each was encouraging and helpful in
different ways. Mentoring is important.
Q:
Do you find yourself working more in a team situation, or more alone?
Gingerich:
I do both. When I was trained students did more of
their work on their own, but now research is more complicated and
requires teamwork. I encourage my students to develop their own ideas
though, because that is where new projects start.
Q:
Do you find you are able to balance work with social/family life while
working in your current job?
Gingerich:
Yes, but it takes effort and it isn't always easy!
Q:
If you had to do it all over again, would you still become a Biologist?
Gingerich:
Definitely.
Q:
Did you think that school prepared you for the way the work gets done in
the real world?
Gingerich:
Yes, because I had a lot of hands-on work
experience along the way.
Q:
Where do you see jobs for Biologists in the future? What should students
be doing to prepare themselves to take on those roles?
Gingerich:
Jobs for biologists are everywhere, and always
will be. However, it is also true that we will never be better
biologists than our training in mathematics and the related sciences of
chemistry, geology, and physics.
Q:
What other advice do you have for precollege students?
Gingerich:
Combine hands-on work experience with classroom
teaching, because it is the hands-on experience that will teach you
whether you have the passion for biology required to be successful.
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