Bio

Jim Westgate with alligator in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

General Information:

• Position: Professor
• E-mail: westgatejw@hal.lamar.edu
• Phone: 409-880-7970
• Office: Geology 204

Education:

• Ph.D, Geology; 1988, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712
• M.S., Biology; 1983, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield, MO 65805
• M.S., Geology; 1978, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588
• B.S., Geology; 1975, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23185

University, Professional, and Community Service:

• JASON Project for Southeast Texas, Science Advisor, May, 2000-present.
• Dinosaur Day (a hands-on community science education event), Co-organizer with the Texas Energy Museum, Beaumont, TX; attended by 1000-2000 children and parents each October ,1992-03.
• Board of Directors, Texas Energy Museum, Member, 1999- present.
• Community Advisory Panel, Beaumont Industrial Park (DuPont, DuPont-Dow Elastomers, ICI Acrylics, Beaumont Methanol, Air Liquide), Member, 1997-present.
• Community Advisory Group, Emergency Response and Notification, Industries of the Golden Triangle, Member, 2000-01
• Texas Natural Resources Conservation Commission’s Governor’s Blue-ribbon Selection Committee for Texas Environmental Excellence Awards 2000, Austin, TX (Feb. - May, 2000)
• Texas Science Summit, Panel discussion member (San Antonio, TX, Jan., 2000)
• Community Advisory Panel, DuPont Beaumont Works, Member, 1993-97.
• Board of Directors, Clean Air and Water, Inc., Member, 1990-present.

Research Interests:

• Paleontology
• Paleocology
• Biostratigraphy
• Environmental Science
• Science Education

Research Description:

Paleontology

My primary research focus has been on the paleoecology of coastal communities from the Permian to the present, with emphasis on Tertiary and Cretaceous age sites. This includes Eocene localities across the U.S. Gulf Coast, Cretaceous localities in Chihuahua, Mexico, and Miocene sites in Panama.

Science Education

My focus in the area of Science Education includes working with K-12 in-service teachers.

Selected Publications:

VIDEOS: Westgate, James, Executive Producer: 2001. Teaching Environmental Science in the Neches River Valley. LU Department of Communication Productions, L. Elliot and O. Stanley, Producers, 1 hr. 10 min.

____ and P. Nichols, Executive Producers: 2002. JASON Project: Science for Life. LU Department of Communication Productions, L. Elliot and O. Stanley, Producers, 10 min..

BOOKS: Westgate, James W. 1999. After the dinosaurs: A Texas tropical paradise found at Lake Casa Blanca. Texas Parks & Wildlife Press, 69 p.

____ (Editor). 1999. Program and abstracts of papers.102nd annual meeting, Texas Academy of Sciences, Seguin, Texas, 96 p.

____ with K. Woods and others. 1994. Physical geology lab manual. Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co., Dubuque, Iowa, 129 p. [2nd ed., 1997].

BOOK CHAPTERS: Westgate, James W. 2001. Paleoecology and biostratigraphy of marginal marine Gulf Coast Eocene vertebrate localities, pp. 263-297; In G. Gunnel, ed.; Eocene biodiversity: Unusual occurrences and rarely sampled habitats. Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers, New York, 442 p.

____ and F. C. Whitmore, Jr. 2002. Balaena ricei, a new species of bowhead whale from the Yorktown Formation (Pliocene) of Hampton, Virginia, 295-312. In : R. J. Emry, Ed., Cenozoic mammals of land and sea: Tributes to the career of Clayton E. Ray, Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology, n. 93, 295-312.

RESEARCH ARTICLES: Westgate, James W. and J.F. Ward. 1981. The giant aquatic snake Pterosphenus schucherti (Palaeophidae) in Arkansas and Mississippi. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 1(2):161-164.

____ 1982. Hemisinus jacksonius (Gastropoda) as an aid in determining potential of marine deposits for yielding remains of terrestrial mammals. Missouri Academy of Science Transactions 16:49-53.

____ 1983. Beachfront roulette. Sea Frontiers, International Oceanographic Foundation, Miami, 29(2):104-109.

____ 1984. Lower vertebrates from the late Eocene Crow Creek local fauna, St. Francis County, Arkansas. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 4(4):536-546.

____ 1985. Shark hunting on the Arkansas ocean deep. Sea Frontiers (International Oceanographic Foundation) 31(4):241-246.

____ and R. J. Emry. 1985. Land mammals of the Crow Creek local fauna, late Eocene, Jackson Group, St. Francis County, Arkansas. Journal of Paleontology 59(1):242-248.

____ and K. Messick. 1985. The Pleistocene peccary Mylohyus fossilis from Plummer Cave, Douglas County, Missouri. Missouri Academy of Science Transactions19:99-108.

____ 1986. Late Eocene land mammals from the Gulf Coastal Plain: in Schiebout, J. A. and van den Bold, W., eds., Montgomery Landing Site, Marine Eocene (Jacksonian) of central Louisiana, Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Symposium Proceedings, October,1986, 223-229.