About Us

The Vengeance Team: Meaghan, Amy, and Bones.

Gettin' a high-five from the Jurassic's baddest bitches.

Amy Atwater wishes she could be a sloth but will settle for second-best: being a slothful human primate. Amy sees the world through the lens of geologic time and she apologizes in advance if she lacks compassion for the survival of a single species. Science is her mistress and first true love. Nothing brings her the peace of mind like a good control group and publishing all your results - even the ones that support your null hypothesis. She hates anthropocentric arguments. She loves prosimians and all their fossil ancestors.

Her research interests are focused conservation paleobiology and using fossils to recreate and understand past ecosystems. Past projects include work with oreodonts, Plio-Pleistocene mammalian beta diversity in North America, and omomyid diversification and extinction. 

When she isn’t gazing at the newest Ray Troll fossil art, Amy likes to spend her time outside being active. She especially loves rock climbing and river rafting, and she can never resist a National Park. A junior ranger for life, Amy is passionate about education and science outreach. She is a trained Wilderness First Responder and certified White Water Rafting Guide. Amy has a Masters degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and currently is enjoying life in Atlanta, Georga.

Here is Meaghan and her cow son Wellington.

If Meaghan Emery-Wetherell could have any job, she would be an astrobiologist. Unfortunately, Meaghan doesn’t much care for bacteria and at this point in science, that’s about as close as we can get to studying life on other planets. So instead, Meaghan studies extinct life on her own planet, which is basically just as bizarre as aliens anyways.

Meaghan has conducted surveys for terrestrial mollusks, amphibians, sensitive botanicals, lichens, bryophytes, invasive plants, and native and non-native fish species. She has collected vertebrate and botanical fossils from all over Oregon, contributing to collections at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, and University of Oregon. Meaghan is capable of applying a scientific name to every non-avian lifeform she sees in nature, and if she doesn’t know it she will make up one so official-sounding you will never ever know the difference.

In her free time, Meaghan enjoys traveling, volunteering, writing fiction and nonfiction, caving, rafting, and drawing ancient fish. Nothing causes Meaghan more rage than poorly written scientific research, except poorly-written reviews of her own scientific research. Meaghan has a B.S. in Biology from Oregon State University, and a Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from the University of Oregon, and currently works as an Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona and as a freelance writer for PBS Eons. She also owns a paleontology themed clothing company called Geopetal Fabric, which you should check out!

How to Contact Us

We're on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and of course, you can always email us at maryanningwritesback@gmail.com !