Karen Chin

Although she is now hooked on paleontology, Karen’s first scientific love was studying living things. As a child, she read numerous books on natural history and memorized scientific names for fun. She attended the University of California at San Diego and worked for the National Park Service as a naturalist for many summers.

Later, when Karen was working at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana, she became interested in ancient organisms and began studying coprolites, which are fossil dung (poop). She received her Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Barbara and later did postdocs—temporary positions that are common in science—at the USGS and Stanford University in California.

Today, Karen is a Professor and Curator of Paleontology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is best known for her work on fossil dinosaur dung and has been featured in National Geographic, The Washington Post, and the NOVA television show.

Please share any positive experiences you’ve had with mentors or role models during your career.

“I was an atypical student when I began my academic career in paleontology because I was female, a person of color (Black, Chinese, plus...), and older than most students entering graduate school. Yet ironically, the people that have been important mentors to me are three white men who had confidence in my abilities and offered critical guidance on my academic journey. The generous counsel of these scientists helped me succeed. In turn, I am happy to demonstrate that paleontologists can come in all colors and flavors.”

Selected technical works by Karen Chin

Chin, K. 2007. The paleobiological implications of herbivorous dinosaur coprolites from the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine Formation of Montana: Why eat wood? PALAIOS 22: 554–566. Link

Chin, K., and B.D. Gilll. 1996. Dinosaurs, dung beetles, and conifers: participants in a Cretaceous food web. PALAIOS 11: 280–285. Link

Chin, K., T.T. Tokaryk, G.M. Erickson, and L.C. Calk. 1998. A king-sized theropod coprolite. Nature 393: 680–682. Link

Chin, K., D.A. Eberth, M.H. Schweitzer, T.A. Rando, W.J. Sloboda, and J.R. Horner. 2003. Remarkable preservation of undigested muscle tissue within a Late Cretaceous tyrannosaurid coprolite from Alberta, Canada. PALAIOS 18: 286–294. Link

Chin, K., E. Estrada-Ruiz, E.A. Wheeler, G.R. Upchurch, Jr., and D.G. Wolfe. 2019. Early angiosperm woods from the mid-Cretaceous (Turonian) of New Mexico, USA: Paraphyllanthoxylon, two new taxa, and unusual preservation. Cretaceous Research 98: 292–304. Link

Essays by Karen Chin

Chin, K. 2020. A less traveled and more meandering path. Pp. 71–72 in L.J. Marsh and E. Currano, eds. The bearded lady project. Challenging the face of science. Columbia University Press, New York.

Further reading

National Park Service. Karen Chin, University of Colorado Boulder. Series: Meet a paleontologist (Kid’s page interview). Link

PaleoPeople: Karen Chin. Interview. The Paleontology Portal. Link

Stricker, B. 2017. Daring to dig : Adventures of women in American paleontology. PRI Special Publication No. 54. Paleontological Research Institution, Ithaca, New York.

Strickland, E. 2013. Reading the book of life in prehistoric dung. Nautilus, 14 November 2013. Link

Video & audio content

2017. Science Friday: Why do dinosaurs matter? 22 September 2017. Audio, features Kenneth Lacovara and Karen Chin. Link

I Know Dino: The big dinosaur podcast: Episode 258: Coprolite (fossilized poop) with Karen Chin. Podcast. Link

Kids Listen: Episode 51: Paleontologist with Dr. Karen Chin. 13 June 2020. Podcast/audio. Link

Natural History Museum of Utah: Polar DinoFest Live with Paleontologists Aubrey Roberts, Dan Ksepka, and Karen Chin. 24 January 2021, via YouTube. Link