Augustana College
William Hammer, Ph.D.
Fritiof Fryxell Professor & Director
Fryxell Geology Museum at Augustana College
Bill Hammer is the Director of the Fryxell Geology Museum at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he has been a faculty member since 1981. He is also a Research Associate at The Field Museum of Natural History, and joins the team this year on the 2010-11 expedition—his eighth to Antarctica! Since 1977, Bill has been the Leader and Principal Investigator for six of his last seven Antarctic expeditions to search for fossil vertebrates.
He has been the recipient of continual funding for Antarctic research from the National Science Foundation since 1980—support totaling nearly two million dollars. Bill received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. from Wayne State University and has published over 40 scientific articles in journals, edited volumes, and books on Antarctic fossil vertebrates.
Joshua C. Mathews
Fossil Preparator & Research Assistant
Fryxell Geology Museum at Augustana College
Josh Mathews it the chief fossil preparator in the paleontology lab at the Fryxell Geology Museum at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, where he has been preparing bones from Cryolophosaurus.
He is also a research assistant to Dr. Bill Hammer, director of the museum and geology professor at Augustana. Josh received Bachelor’s of Science Degrees in Biology and Geology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he primarily studied paleoecological fossil communities from the late Paleozoic. He received his Master's Degree in Geography from Northern Illinois University and is currently working on a Master’s Degree in Biology at Western Illinois University studying functional morphology.