Section 4190.407  Requirements for a Certified Professional Paleontologist

At a minimum, a State certified professional paleontologist must be a licensed professional geologist under the auspices of the Professional Geologist Licensing Act [225 ILCS 745] that has a specialization in paleontology or all of the following:

a)         have been awarded a graduate degree, from an accredited organization, in paleontology or another germane discipline, including, but not limited to, geology, biology or zoology, with a specialization in paleontology.

b)         have designed and executed a paleontological study as evidenced by an M.A. or M.S. thesis, Ph.D. dissertation, or a report equivalent in scope and quality.  It is recognized that in some cases an individual may have prepared several small reports that, cumulatively, are comparable to an M.A. or M.S. thesis.  If the applicant's name does not appear on a document that a person authored, a letter verifying the actual authorship must be solicited and submitted from the person, firm, or agency that issued the report.  In any case the reports must indicate that the person has the ability to conduct the field work with appropriate methods and complete the report as outlined in this Section.

c)         have access to facilities and services or be associated with an organization that provides, as appropriate to the scope of the project, the necessary:

1)         office space and furniture;

2)         laboratory space, furniture, and equipment for analysis of specimens and data;

3)         special facilities such as darkroom, drafting facilities, conservation laboratory, etc.;

4)         permanent allocation of space, facilities, and equipment for proper maintenance of collections and records located within the State of Illinois;

5)         field equipment such as vehicles, surveying instruments, etc.;

6)         research library;

7)         administrative and fiscal control services;

8)         security system;

9)         technical specialists such as photographers, curators, conservators, etc.; and

10)         report production services.

Individuals or organizations lacking certain facilities or services may satisfy these requirements through cooperative agreements with other organizations.  The paleontologist must furnish a letter detailing access to facilities meeting the requirements of this subsection (c), or if associated with an organization, a letter from an authorized organizational official detailing the applicant's association and indicating the organization's commitment to meeting the requirements of this subsection (c).