Prescott Vayda

My name is Prescott, and I am a paleontologist. I have two major areas of interest: the evolution of early animals (and the environments they lived in) and the way that fossils get preserved and the biases that imparts on our understanding of ancient life. Fortunately, there is a lot of weird and cool fossil preservation happening with the fossils that preserve early animals, so I usually don't have to pick just one of my interests.

When learning about these early animals, or looking at their tiny fossils, I like to imagine what the ocean would have looked like 540 million years ago. While some creatures might almost seem familiar, there were many organisms that look nothing like anything alive today. In many ways, our own Earth would have felt like an alien world.

Studying how these fossils are preserved lets me integrate geology, biology, and chemistry. Taking chemistry in college, I never would have thought I would be so enthusiastic about getting to do chemistry for my job. But discovering the applications relevant to my field of study (think about what minerals preserve the fossils and what environmental conditions were necessary) has helped me develop an appreciation and love for chemistry.

October 2026