Kenshu Shimada holding a Megaladon shark tooth. (Photo by Jeff Carrion/DePaul University)Steven Spielberg, director of classics like Jurassic Park and Jaws and DePaul Professor Kenshu Shimada share two things in common — a love of paleontology and a prestigious Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Award.
Shimada received the Joseph T. Gregory Award during the 84th Annual Meeting of the SVP in Minneapolis on Nov. 2, 2024. Shimada also celebrated a 35-year attendance streak at the meeting, which began during his freshman year of college in 1989. The award is one of the SVP’s highest honors and recognizes Shimada’s outstanding service to the international organization and his contributions as a member of their Government Affairs Committee.
"In a heartfelt moment at the banquet, the outgoing SVP president characterized me as 'the hardest-working SVP committee chair,' while also recognizing my research productivity and balancing roles at DePaul,” Shimada says. “During my award acceptance speech, I urged everyone to stay engaged, make informed decisions and vote to create a better world for the science of vertebrate paleontology."
Through Shimada’s dedication and innovation, he has become an important leader in the field of paleontology and a valued member of the SVP. His research on lamniform sharks, including the infamous Megalodon, has challenged and clarified some prior findings about these ancient creatures. Most recently, Shimada and his team
conducted a study illuminating that Megalodon must have had a slenderer body form than previously thought.
As a member of the SVP’s Government Affairs Committee since 2005 and chair since 2011, Shimada has contributed letters on behalf of the society addressing proposed policies impacting paleontology on public lands in the United States as well as global issues, including cases of illegal and/or unethical commercial trading of fossils. Shimada will continue to steward the committee, working to make sure scientific principles and expertise drive the protection of fossil resources globally.
You can learn more about Shimada’s work here.