Artist Ray Troll and paleontologist Dr. Kirk Johnson, the self-described "paleo-nerd duo," have been working as a team ever since they took a road trip across the American West in search of fossils.In 2007, the pair published the book Cruisin' the Fossil Freeway, and have collaborated with Dr. Elizabeth Nesbitt at the Burke Museum to produce a traveling exhibit by the same name.

About Ray Troll

From his tree-top studio, high above the Tongass Narrows in rain-swept Ketchikan Alaska, Ray Troll draws and paints fossil-filled images that migrate into museums, books, and magazines around the globe. Basing his quirky images on the latest scientific discoveries, Ray brings a street-smart sensibility to the world of paleontology.

Troll has a bachelor of arts from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, an master of fine arts in studio art from Washington State University, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Alaska Southeast. He is a proud member of the Gilbert Ichthyological Society and recently earned a gold medal for distinction in the Natural History Arts from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia.

About Kirk Johnson, Ph.D.

Since 1991, Dr. Kirk Johnson has been working as a paleontology curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where he now serves as vice president of research and collections and chief curator. Johnson studies fossil plants, terrestrial stratigraphy, geochronology, and extinction.

Johnson has a doctorate in geology from Yale University. He loves to produce museum exhibits and other media that popularizes earth sciences.

About Liz Nesbitt, Ph.D.

Dr. Liz Nesbitt has been a curator of paleontology at the Burke Museum since 1997 and teaches in the Earth and Space Sciences Department at the University of Washington. Her research has focused on marine invertebrate fauna and microfossils of the Pacific Northwest, New Zealand and Peru, and what the fossils can tell us about rapid climate change and extinctions. 

Liz Nesbitt has a doctorate in paleontology from the University of California in Berkeley, had a post-doctorate fellowship at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, and loves the dynamic intersection of science, art and education in museums.