Prescott Atkinson, M.D., professor in the Division of Pediatric Allergy & Immunology, has been awarded the inaugural Alabama Avocational Paleontologist Award (ALAP). This award was created to honor amateur paleontologists who have made outstanding contributions to the field of paleontology in Alabama.

Dr. Atkinson has been an avocational paleontologist for the past five decades. He has collected and donated thousands of fossils to multiple museums and been involved in preserving fossil sites in Alabama. Discoveries he has made in Alabama include a Late Cretaceous Period dinosaur egg from Harrell Station Paleontological Site in Dallas County and rare insect wings from a Pennsylvanian in northern Alabama. Dr. Prescott has also played a key role in the preservation and management of the Stephen C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site in Walker County.

This award is made available by the Alabama Museum of Natural History and the Department of Museum Research & Collections, both of which are part of the University of Alabama Museums.

Read full story about this award here.