Tash Mahnokaren

Staff Writer

Pocatello is certainly not the first place that comes to mind when people think of fossils of the distinctive whorl tooth shark. This is however an area familiar to Leif Tapanila, the new chair of Idaho State University’s geology department.

Tapanilla has been with the geosciences department at ISU since 2005. Making the transition from a Ph.D student to an assistant and then associate professor, he describes his occupational ascent as being “eye opening” with many different experiences.

In his current position as chair of the geology department and curator for the Idaho Museum of Natural History, Tapanilla aspires to continuously make the work of professors relatable to students.

As a child, Tapanilla expressed that he had always wanted to be a biologist, eventually leading to him obtaining his undergraduate degree in biology.

A change of heart was imminent after Tapanilla took a course in geology. Sold on the unique intersectionality of the sciences that rest their common ground in the geoscience branch, Tapanilla views geology as a branch that encourages broad thinking.

In pursuit of his interest in geology, Tapanilla realized that he would have the opportunity to be a biologist, while also having an understanding of how time works. Fascinated by the idea of studying “life through time” the geosciences adorned an immediate appeal to Tapanilla, who went on to obtain both a master’s degree and a Ph.D in geology.

Tapanilla, being an avid paleontologist, has also conducted extensive research on the now extinct whorl tooth shark. In the prime of their existence, these 20-25 foot long sharks used to live in this very area, swimming around Pocatello’s mines and what we now consider our campus facilities. While research in the area continues, the last three to four years have yielded 75 of the 150 whorl tooth shark fossils that exist globally, making his findings the largest in the world.

An inquisitive undergraduate