Ancient fossils give MSU students hands-on research experience

For Montana State University undergraduate Isabelle Brenes, digging a triceratops out of a hillside in the badlands near Ekalaka in July marked only the beginning of a long, familiar process of readying fossils for study and display.

When she isn't volunteering on field digs with the Museum of the Rockies at MSU, Brenes, a senior majoring in paleontology in the Department of Earth Sciences in the College of Letters and Science, works at the museum as a fossil preparer, meticulously cleaning the preserved remains of dinosaurs and other ancient life.

"It's my dream job," said Brenes as she used...