Meet the Team

Dr. Elizabeth Jones

Project Manager, Cretaceous Creatures, NCMNS

Postdoctoral Researcher, NCSU

Dr. Elizabeth D. Jones is the Project Coordinator for Cretaceous Creatures at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and Postdoctoral Researcher at NC State University. and is a Historian of Science and author of the book Ancient DNA: The Making of a Celebrity Science (Yale University Press). Her research focuses on the historical, philosophical, and sociological aspects of the scientific process to better understand how science happens and how it impacts society. Throughout her career,  she has had first-hand experience working with paleontologists and geneticists in both the field and the lab in the US, UK, and Europe. Jones also has experience working with the public from managing paleontology volunteer programs to teaching summer educational programs. Prior to working as the Cretaceous Creatures Coordinator, Jones was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar at NC State University and Project Manager for a NSF grant to create a Data Ethics Toolkit for the Participatory Sciences in partnership with the Citizen Science Association. Her job now is dedicated to building collaborations between paleontologists, educators, students, and sponsors, then bringing together the scientific, technical, educational, and ethical dimensions required to make Cretaceous Creatures a successful public science project.

Haviv Avrahami

Former Research Assistant, Cretaceous Creatures, NCMNS

PhD Student, NCSU

Haviv Avrahami is a PhD student at NC State University and NC Museum of Natural Sciences. He has a broad interest in the anatomy, paleobiology, ontogeny, and phylogeny of ornithischian dinosaurs and is describing a new (possibly burrowing) plant eating dinosaur from the middle Cretaceous period. He is passionate about engaging in opportunities to share paleontology with the public, specifically middle-school and high-school students from disenfranchised and underprivileged backgrounds. He hopes to present science as a tangible, realistic, and attainable career path for students with unconventional educational backgrounds, especially those facing adversity. Avrahami’s role in Cretaceous Creatures includes collecting the truckloads worth of microfossil rich sediment from Montana each summer and driving it back to NC, where he screenwashes the material down to a more manageable quantity for students to search through for microfossils. Avrahami helped build the architecture of the fossil decision tree pathway and other aspects of the fossil identification process. He used a combination of photogrammetry, advanced microscopy, and nano CT-scanning to create the high resolution images and 3D models of microfossils used throughout the online modules, website, and lesson plans. He also produced many of the digital art renderings used throughout the program. Additionally, Avrahami is responsible for cataloging and verifying the fossil identifications made by students during the program that will result in an original scientific database for paleontologists to study.