Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues: Associate Director for Science and Collections and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology

Carnegie, Jan/Feb 2003

Associate Director for Science and Collections and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology

Dr. Hans-Dieter Sues, the new associate director of Science and Collections, began work in December overseeing the activities of the museum's distinguished curators and their support staff, and providing oversight of the management of more than 21 million specimens, one of the largest collections in the world. He also will continue his own groundbreaking research as curator of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Prior to joining Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Dr. Sues was vice president, Collections & Research at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and professor of Zoology at the University of Toronto. In this capacity, he was responsible for a staff of about 130 full-time employees and collections of over 5 million objects.

Dr. Sues has collected dinosaurs and other vertebrates in many regions of the United States, Canada, China, Germany, Morocco, and Uzbekistan. His research on dinosaurs and mass extinctions, as well as his innovative work on museum exhibits, has been widely featured in the national and international media.

He is the current president of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, the leading international organization in this academic discipline, and is on the Board of Directors of the National Science Collections Alliance. He has been editor of two international professional journals and two book series, edited three books, and to date has published over 100 technical articles, book chapters, and book reviews.

After graduating with highest honors in Geology and Zoology from Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat (Mainz, Germany) in 1975, Dr. Sues received a master's degree in Geology from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University. He is also a graduate of the Museum Management Institute organized by the J. Paul Getty Trust at the University of California at Berkley.

Following postdoctoral research at McGill University and at the Smithsonian National Museum of History in Washington, D.C., Sues worked as a research scientist in Paleobiology at the Smithsonian, and in 1992 he joined the curatorial staff of the Royal Ontario Museum.