Colorado Scientific Society – Earth Sciences since 1882
The oldest scientific society in the Rocky Mountain region
Founded in 1882, the Colorado Scientific Society promotes knowledge, the understanding of science, and its application to human needs.
We focus primarily on earth science, welcoming members with interests in all fields of science. Learn more.
Membership dues paid in November and December also apply to the following year.
Social Media accounts for Colorado Scientific Society
Instagram (@coloradoscientificsociety)
Bluesky (@coloradoscientific)
We will post announcements like meetings, talks, field trips, and student opportunities on these sites.
Future Colorado Scientific Society Meetings and Field Trips
We normally hold monthly meetings from September through May.
Our meetings are normally now both in-person and virtual.
CSS May Meeting and Emmons Lecture
Spicomellus: extreme armor in the world’s oldest ankylosaur
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Dr. D. Cary Woodruff, Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, Miami, FL
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church, Golden
The link to Join the Zoom meeting will be posted here before the meeting.
Speculative rendering by Matt Dempsey
Lecture Highlights:
The ankylosaur Spicomellus afer is truly one of the most bizarre dinosaurs discovered to date. Covered head to tail with elaborate osteoderms, including cervical spikes nearly a meter in length, Spicomellus looks more Hollywood kaiju than factual dinosaur. However, it’s not just the appearance of Spicomellus that makes it unique. The construct of its bizarre armament is unlike any other vertebrate—extinct or extant. Being from the Middle Jurassic, Spicomellus is also the oldest ankylosaur thus far known; and with this bizarre body armor, is rewriting the functional and evolutionary role of armor in this dinosaurian clade. Spicomellus, along with other Gondwanan clades found within the El Mers Group, are helping to further push back, and elucidate, the origins of several dinosaurian lineages.
Speaker Background:
Dr. Cary Woodruff is the Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science in Miami, Florida where he is building a dinosaur collection from scratch. Cary has published numerous scientific papers involving taphonomy, histology (microscopic anatomy), dinosaur vision, fossil laws and regulations, dinosaur biomechanics, ontogeny (growth and development), soft-tissue preservation, dinosaur behavior, and human-fossil interactions. Cary’s main research specialization is dedicated to sauropod (“long-necked”) dinosaurs studying everything from how long it took them to grow up, how their skeletons changed during growth, how they moved their enormous bodies, how they behaved, how they fed, what their anatomy was like. Cary has also published a number of books on dinosaurs for kids.
Education
BS & MS in Earth Science at Montana State Univ./Museum of the Rockies
PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Univ. Toronto/Royal Ontario Museum
Keywords
Ankylosaur, Middle Jurassic, osteoderms, cervical spikes, El Mers Group, Morocco
Flyer for this CSS meeting: CSS May 2026 Emmons Lecture, Cary Woodruff; Spicomellus: extreme armor in the world’s oldest ankylosaur
Link to the paper: Extreme_armour_in_the_world’s_oldest_ankylosaur
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church, Golden
All are welcome – no admission charge
6:30 pm – Social time begins at Calvary Church Golden. Enter off 14th St.
6:45 pm – Join Zoom meeting, if attending remotely
7:00 PM – Meeting starts.
Please arrive early. Church doors are locked, and no one will be at the door to let you in after 7:00 pm.
Calvary Church, 1320 Arapahoe St, Golden, CO 80401
Enter off 14th St., going in via the main glass doors on 14th St.
Do not enter the old church above 13th St.
Go through building following the CSS signs to the Community Rooms 1 and 2, where we meet.
The church doors must stay locked, and we will have a person to let you in at the doors off 14th St.
They want to see the presentation too, so please arrive before 7:00 pm.
There will be a phone number that you can text to be let in if you arrive late.
Parking
On street parking is available close by, west of Washington Ave in downtown Golden. The “Public Parking” NE of the Church is free for registered church members but not for us. Lowest parking rate is $5.75 for three hours; one pays using a QR code shown on signs there. For that parking rate, it says one is supposed to park on the upper (roof top) level. When driving uphill (southwest) on 14th St, the rooftop entrance is the 2nd entrance to the parking structure, immediately before the church.
For free parking: 14th Street usually has parking within a block of the entrance to the Church. Coming from the north (CO 93) or northeast (CO 58, between North and South Table Mountains), come southeast on Washington Street, turn right (southwest) on 13th Street, Turn left on Cheyenne St. Go up the hill and turn right on 14th Street. Park on your right.
Coming from the east or or southeast on US 6 (6th Ave.), exit US 6 onto 19th St. going NE. Turn left on Illinois St. Go through the Mines campus and turn right on 14th St. If you can, park NE of Cheyenne St.
When 14th Street is full, Mines may have scheduled an event.
There is Golden city parking southwest of downtown Golden. This is downhill from (northwest of) the Church in the half block between 13th and 12th streets, between Arapahoe St. on the SW and Miners Alley on the NE. There is usually space here. The Foss Lot (SE half of the parking area) is private and says “Paid Parking”. The public Arapahoe Lot (NW half of the parking area) says “Paid Parking 7-5” and should be free.
To get to the meeting, go up the hill along the church by Arapahoe St.
You can also find parking in the streets below (north of) the Church and west of downtown Golden.
Copies of The Geology of Boulder County by Raymond Bridge (2004) will be available for $20.
CSS Past Presidents’ Dinner and September Meeting
Thursday, September 10, 2026
Karen Chin, University of Colorado, Boulder
Geological Sciences and CU Museum of Natural History
Dinner and Talk at Mount Vernon Canyon Club
Dr Karen Chin
Research
My research investigates the structure and dynamics of ancient ecosystems–particularly those of the Mesozoic Era (about 65 to 250 million years ago). I am interested in how ancient communities of organisms differed from modern ecosystems in composition and organization. Much of my work focuses on tapping information available in permineralized coprolites (fossil feces), but I also examine other trace and body fossils. My work focuses on understanding interactions among ancient organisms, and deducing the environmental conditions in which these organisms lived and were fossilized. I use a multidisciplinary approach by examining geological, biological, and chemical characteristics of fossils and compare the fossil evidence with modern ecosystems to derive paleoecological interpretations.
Keywords
paleoecology, ichnology (trace fossils), petrographic and chemical analyses of fossils, coprolites, dinosaur diets
Research Interests
Primary: Paleontology and Paleobiology, Geobiology
Secondary: Geochemistry, Paleoclimate and Paleoceanography
Education & Training:
Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara 1996
Geological Society of America
GSA Connects 2026 Annual Meeting
Denver, Colorado, October 11-14, 2026
The Colorado Scientific Society will be hosting a Topical Session:
Peaks, Plains, and Plateaus: 150 years of Colorado Science Discoveries
CSS October Meeting
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Dr. Josh Lively, Curator of Paleontology
Utah State University Eastern, Prehistoric Museum
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church, Golden
Speaker
Joshua Lively, Ph.D., is the Curator of Paleontology at the Prehistoric Museum in Price, Utah. His main research interest is the spatial and temporal change in ecosystems – both freshwater and marine – during the Late Cretaceous, or last 34 million years of the Age of Dinosaurs. Lively’s specialties include turtles and mosasaurs, as both groups are well represented in the fossil record. He has spent the last 15 years conducting fieldwork in Utah and beyond.
CSS November Meeting
Poster Night
Thursday, November 19, 2026
For Students and Early Career Earth Scientists
In-person Meeting at Calvary Church, Golden
CSS December Pot Luck Dinner and
Past President’s Address
December, 2026
Speaker Amy Atwater, Director of Paleontology, Friends of Dinosaur Ridge
and current President of the Colorado Scientific Society
More details coming
Please pay your CSS dues for 2026!
You may pay dues online or print out a PDF of the membership form and mail it to us with a check. Continuing your membership in CSS will enable us to continue all our ongoing programs, including our field trips, virtual meetings, Student Research Grants, and more.
See Membership and Donations for the CSS membership PDF and our online membership payment form.
Regular CSS Membership is $25;
Student Membership, $5;
Life Membership, $395.
Send your membership payment, if not done through our online membership payment form, to Colorado Scientific Society P.O. Box 150495 Lakewood, CO 80215-0495.
Thank you!
New and renewal memberships in November and December are also good for the next year.
Read past Colorado Scientific Society Newsletters
Archive of Past Colorado Scientific Society Meetings
Including video recordings of most meetings
About the Colorado Scientific Society
The Colorado Scientific Society was founded in 1882 as a forum for the exchange of observations and ideas on the topics of earth science. Lecture topics largely focus on earth science, and are open to the public. In addition to our monthly lecture series, the society is also active in public service. We fund student research grants, construct and post signs that describe local geologic features, and organize and lead field trips.
The Colorado Scientific Society normally meets on the third Thursday of the month from September through May. (In the summer months of June-August, too many members are out in the field.)
6:30 – Social time at in-person meetings
6:45 – Join Zoom meetings
7:00 – Meeting and Program begin
The Colorado Scientific Society is an Associated Society of the Geological Society of America
Please send comments about the Colorado Scientific Society website to ColoSciSoc.webmaster at gmail.com
We meet at the Calvary Church in Golden and appreciate them sharing their facilities.
We have our December Business Meeting and Potluck Supper at New Terrain Brewing Company and appreciate their support.
