Paul Sereno earned his doctorate at Columbia University in 1987 and became a full professor at the University of Chicago in 1998, building a career on expeditions to some of the least-explored fossil beds in the world -- Argentina, Niger, Morocco, Inner Mongolia.[2]
In 1989 he described Herrerasaurus ischigualastensis from a nearly complete skeleton found in Argentina, one of the oldest dinosaurs known. In 1993 he named Eoraptor lunensis, among the most primitive dinosaurs yet found. His African expeditions turned up Afrovenator, Jobaria, Deltadromeus, Suchomimus, the first good skull of Carcharodontosaurus, and -- alongside the SuperCroc find (Sarcosuchus imperator) that made international headlines -- a new species within the Spinosaurus genus, the first addition to that genus in over a century.[1][2]
Sereno co-founded Project Exploration in 1999 to bring paleontology to underserved Chicago students, and in 2024 opened the University of Chicago Fossil Lab as a public-facing outreach space. He continues to lead expeditions as a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence.[1]