Chelsea Wegrzyniak

Professors study Sasquatch, sculpture and sharks

Professor Jeff Meldrum’s office, located Room 308 in Gale Life Science building.
Professor Jeff Meldrum’s office, located Room 308 in Gale Life Science building.

Jeff Meldrum

Professor of anatomy and anthropology Jeff Meldrum has been at Idaho State University since 1993. While his research extends from vertebrate evolutionary morphology to the emergence of bipedalism, Meldrum is most well known for his research regarding the legendary Sasquatch.

He has authored a companion text to the Discovery Channel documentary “Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science.” In his work with human bipedalism, Meldrum has collaborated with paleontologists, engineering faculty at ISU and the Idaho Virtualization Lab as the acting director of the Center for Motion Analysis and Biomechanics.

When not pursuing Sasquatch or researching the evolution of the hominid foot, Meldrum teaches human anatomy, sectional anatomy, organic evolution and biology senior seminar.

Associate professor Leif Tapanila’s office, Room 228 in the Physical Sciences building.
Associate professor Leif Tapanila’s office, Room 228 in the Physical Sciences building.

Leif Tapanila

Associate professor of invertebrate paleontology and sedimentology Leif Tapanila researches prehistoric sharks, the evolution of wood-boring insects and more under the Department of Geosciences at ISU.

“I’m a paleontologist,” said Tapanila. “I work on uncovering the history of life in the past.”

Tapanila is currently researching a shark-like creature called the Helicoprion that lived in oceans covering Idaho more than 200 million years ago. The Helicoprion had a spiral of teeth in its lower jaw.

This spiraled lower jaw is one of the only parts of the animal that has been found. A large portion of the discovered fossils of the Helicoprion resides in the Idaho Museum of Natural History at ISU.

“This is very much Idaho’s animal,” said Tapanila of the Helicoprion.

Tapanila also works with university students at a meteor impact site in Nevada. Working with high school teachers, he has helped to expose high school students to geological issues surrounding the site.

Wood-boring insects and their evolutionary beginnings are another focus of Tapanila’s work. Petrified wood provides much of the information regarding early wood-boring behavior in insects.

“I love what I do,” said Tapanila.

The sculpture studio is located close to Public Safety and is the classroom for Professor of Art Doug Warnock.
The sculpture studio is located close to Public Safety and is the classroom for Professor of Art Doug Warnock.

Doug Warnock

The Department of Art encompasses a broad range of medias, from painting and drawing to sculpture and weaving. Professor of Art Douglas Warnock instructs sculpture studies at ISU.

With commissioned work in Idaho, Utah, California and beyond, Warnock describes himself as the art instructor’s equivalent of a player’s coach. Several of his pieces are on display publically in Pocatello.

“I treat every student as if they’re going to be professional sculptors,” said Warnock.

As part of ISU’s nationally known art department, the sculptural studies studio features kilns, welding equipment, a metal casting foundry and more.

“We do all of the technical processes of modern sculpture,” said Warnock. “We get [work] done and we have great fun doing it.”

Recently ISU undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty, contributed to a storefront display during the First Friday Art Walk in Old Town Pocatello. The show was titled “Aesthetic Neanderthals.”

Warnock said that he works primarily in creating non-objective figures, working with abstract and semi-abstract concepts to create sculpture.

“The [art] I do is very large-scale sculpture,” said Warnock.

Warnock’s desk in the sculptural studies studio was adorned with small sculptures, including several pieces his two children created when they were young.

“My world is beautiful,” said Warnock.