Gale Arden Bishop, Emeritus Professor of Geology at Georgia Southern University and former Director of both the South Dakota School of Mines and the Georgia Southern Museum, is a Geologist, Paleontologist, Economic Mineralogist, world-renowned sea turtle expert, and a lifelong educator. His research has centered on the Geology of South Dakota, the Geology of Georgia, the study of modern and fossil decapod crustaceans, the study of modern and fossil sea turtles, distribution of heavy mineral black sand deposits of the Western Interior Seaway, and a love of giant, swimming Cretaceous sea monsters. 

Gale has devoted his life to education - first of himself as he earned degrees culminating in a PhD in Geology, next for thousands of college students as a professor at Georgia Southern University and South Dakota School of Mines, simultaneously for thousands of school-age children who visited the museums he directed, then for hundreds of K-12 teachers as he brought them to St Catherines to learn about sea turtle conservation and island ecology, and finally as a mentor and colleague to hundreds of scientists, professional researchers, and passionate amateurs. 

In everything he's done, Gale has maintained a firm grasp on where he got his start - the classrooms of SDSM&T and the windy, late Cretaceous Pierre Shale surrounding The Black Hills of South Dakota. It was in these classrooms that his passion for science, commitment to excellence in research, and interest in connecting the ancient past to the present was awakened. 

Since those days in Rapid City, his contributions have been extensive in the discovery, description, and publication related to 23 new genus, 51 species of decapods and 1 new whale species. The vast Bishop fossil decapod collection - split among SDSM&T, the Smithsonian Institution, The Florida State Museum, University of Texas, and the Smithsonian Institute, and his 115 research papers on subjects ranging from fossil decapods to sea turtle nesting behavior to Hydrology of the Georgia Coast to ghost shrimp on the SE coastlines form part of his legacy. 

No matter where he may roam...there's never a place as familiar as home. Gale has maintained a home in Spearfish, SD, where he endeavors to return, pick up his collecting bag and hand lens, and set off into the field to find more fossils and introduce them to the world.

View Dr. Bishop's Supporting Documents at this Academia link or by clicking any of the buttons below to travel to specific areas of interest.