James Burnes, a geology and history double major at Lamar University in Beaumont, was recently recognized by the paleontology section of the Houston Gem and Mineral Society as the inaugural recipient of the Irene Hoffman Paleontology Scholarship.
Burnes, a resident of Fred, served as a paleontology field assistant the past two summers on a project conducted by Jim Westgate, professor of earth and space sciences at the university in the Uinta Basin of northeast Utah studying 42 million year old vertebrate fossil remains.
The gem and mineral society awards the scholarship named for Irene Offeman, the founding member of the paleontology section, to a student majoring in geology focused on paleontology. Offeman served as the curator of paleontology for the Houston Museum of Natural Science, bringing the beauty of fossils as well as the mysteries and principles of paleontology to the public.
Information on Lamar’s programs in earth and space sciences can be found on the internet at http://ess.lamar.edu/.
