CUTV News Radio Spotlights Paleontologist Roger J. Cuffey

State College, PA - Roger Cuffey is a Professor Emeritus of Paleontology in the Department of Geosciences at Penn State University. 

“Paleontology involves a tremendous amount of outdoor exploration and traveling the world examining rocks exposed in road cuts, railroad cuts, and stream bluffs,” says Roger. “This aptly clues us into the earth’s history and knowledge about the ancient past and when oil, coal, and uranium, three vital energy resources, were formed.”

Roger is a Bryozoan specialist studying tiny colonial marine animals called phylum bryozoa that resemble miniature corals made up a series of small chambers. Bryozoans contain a lengthy fossil record dating back 500 million years.

“Most people are familiar with large fossils like dinosaurs but the small fossils, ranging from miniature shells to these coral imitators and microscopic shells, were particularly common in the last hundred million years of geologic history,” says Roger. “This is when most of the petroleum oil formed and accumulated below the earth’s surface. Paleontology allows us to effortlessly tap into the earth’s energy sources.”

“I encourage everyone to support the funding for state universities to hire as many geologists as possible teaching young people who will become the future paleontologists and geologists,” says Roger. “I wholeheartedly encourage more people to go into paleontology.”

Roger maintains that all people can contribute to expanding the field of paleontology by observing their surroundings. See what’s out in the natural world and be open to whatever those worlds can teach you about life in the future as well as the past and get involved.