Southeast Missouri State University students discover T. rex fossil during Montana field expedition

KBSI FOX23 News at 9 p.m.

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., (KBSI) – Southeast Missouri State University students spent part of their summer unearthing fossils in the badlands of Jordan, Montana, including the discovery of a Tyrannosaurus rex bone, university officials said Friday.

Geoscience instructor Pamela Mills, who has led the trip annually since 2019, shared the students’ discoveries with SEMO’s Board of Governors during its Sept. 19 meeting.

“Students actually get to be paleontologists for a week,” said Mills, who has taught at SEMO for 12 years. “They’re taught proper field techniques—how to prospect, identify fossils, use GPS coordinates, excavate, tag and jacket fossils for travel. The experience for the students is priceless.”

The group included 14 students and two faculty members from a variety of majors, ranging from wildlife biology and anthropology to historic preservation, GIS and aviation. Students earned course credit while learning field excavation and fossil preparation.

Senior environmental science major Megan Buchheit said the highlight of the trip was discovering a T. rex bone.

“I saw a little piece of something sticking out of the ground,” Buchheit said. “When the paleontologists identified it as T. rex bone—I was nearly in tears. Knowing I was the first human to lay eyes on this was so, so cool.”

Wildlife biology senior Iris Mohesky said the experience brought classroom lessons to life.

“You learn about it in the classroom, but actually touching the extinction event or holding a bone is the most exciting and cool thing,” Mohesky said. “Seeing the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary in the rock layers, finding float and learning how to jacket fossils the same way paleontologists do—it was fascinating.”

The fossils uncovered are used in SEMO geology courses and for community outreach programs, reaching more than 1,000 people annually at schools, libraries, Scout events, conferences and university programs.

SEMO is currently the only university partnered with Paleo X Adventure 360, which allows for transporting fossils from Montana to campus, giving students continued hands-on opportunities in the lab.

Students interested in joining future fossil digs can contact Mills at pamills@semo.edu
or learn more at Southeast Missouri State University | SEMO.