Gabrielle Lyon
Gabe was born on July 12, 1972 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and grew up in New York and New Jersey. As a child, she liked to collect butterflies, draw, and read. She attended Pascack Valley High School in New Jersey, where she played the flute and competed in regional and state competitions. She also founded the school’s first-ever environmental club, Students for Environmental Action and Awareness (SEAA).

When it came time for college, she attended the University of Chicago, studying Medieval History for her Bachelors degree and the History of Anthropology for her Masters. After completing both in 1994, she is currently working on a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Gabe was always interested in biology and geology. When she was offered a position to be a team member and the official “Expedition Scribe”
of the 1993 trip to Niger, she jumped at the chance. Since then, she has also been on the 1997 and 2000 expeditions to Niger, and also to Morocco in 1995 and Argentina in 1996. She is currently the co-founder and Executive Director of Project Exploration, a non-profit science education organization dedicated to making dinosaur discoveries accessible and providing hands-on natural science experiences to city kids.

She can’t wait to return to Niger and fieldwork,
and hopes that she’ll be able to remember some of the Hausa she met in the past.

Interview with Gabrielle Lyon
by Junior Paleontologist Susan