Eric T. Metz
Paleontology Collections Manager-Registrar

Eric was born in Hanford, California to an RN and a Naval Airman. He grew up reading dinosaur books and racing his dad to identify Naval Aircraft flying overhead. Eric credits this game with developing his ability to notice small differences quickly, a skill he would employ as a paleontologist identifying fossils in the field and in the lab.

In 2006, Eric started at Montana State University (MSU) and earned a Bachelor of Science in earth sciences and secondary education. As an undergraduate, he studied Cretaceous marine reptiles of Montana, focusing on plesiosaurs. Afterward, he earned a Master of Science in geology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in 2019. His thesis focused on the anatomy of a new genus of a group of Triassic marine reptiles called thalattosaurs.

With his graduate degree completed Eric returned to Bozeman and worked as the laboratory manager for Dr. David Varricchio in the Department of Earth Sciences at MSU as well as a Field Technician for the mitigation paleontology company Paleo Solutions. In 2021, he became the Paleontology Collection Manager-Registrar at Museum of the Rockies. In this job, he strives to unite the paleontology collection with the public and researchers around the world. Eric has conducted fieldwork in eleven states, from Northern Alaska to Southern Texas. Current research projects include studying the Late Triassic marine biodiversity of North America, thalattosaur braincase anatomy and evolution, and Late Cretaceous plesiosaur diversity and anatomy.

Contact Eric via email or 406.994.6578.