Dr. Michael Rischbieter, Presbyterian College professor of biology, enjoys actively collecting fossils throughout the southeast. Last spring, when President of the Alabama Paleontological Society, Ashley Allen, posted a picture of a rare fossil lycopod – Paralycopodites – he decided to travel to Alabama and get a glimpse of the rare fossil himself. There, Rischbieter had the opportunity to view the entire “John Cooke Collection.” After years of collecting fossils, John Cooke holds a collection featuring 300 million year-old Alabama plant life – some of which can be considered the size of tree trunks and boulders. Both Rischbieter and his wife, Dana, were in awe. It wasn’t long before Rischbieter contacted Dr. William A. DiMichele, a longtime colleague and curator of fossil plants in the paleobiology section at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. “I know his specialty is the main group of plants that I discovered in the ‘John Cooke Collection’, so I thought it might be of interest to him,” says Rischbieter. And indeed it was.

A large part of the “John Cooke Collection” is currently on display at the Smithsonian Institution. Rischbieter has also transported part of Cooke’s collection to the Presbyterian College campus for eventual use in a display on Alabama fossils. This collection will add to the number of fossils displayed on the College’s campus. Rischbieter is proud to share his love of fossils with students not only through his findings, but also through publications and Maymester courses.

You can read more in this article from al.com.