Dr. Shya Chitaley

Curator Emerita
e-mail: schitale@cmnh.org
phone: (216) 231-4600, ext. 3226

B.Sc., botany, chemistry and zoology, University of Nagpur, India
M.Sc., botany, University of Nagpur, India
Ph.D., botany (paleobotany), University of Reading, England

Before coming to The Cleveland Museum of Natural History in 1980 and starting the Department of Paleobotany, Chitaley had a 28-year career at the Institute of Science, Nagpur and Bombay, India, where she was department head and professor of botany.

Research publications to date: 147 (107 on the Deccan Intertrappean flora of India, the remainder on the Cleveland Shale)

Ph.D. students supervised in India: 15

Research interests while in India

The Upper Cretaceous flora of the Deccan Intertrappeans of India. From her intensive study of these fossils, Dr. Chitaley restored the Upper Cretaceous forest of the Madhya Pradeah.

Research interests at the Museum

Reconstructing the 363 million-year-old (Late Devonian) forest of clubmosses of Ohio by studying the plant fossils collected from the Cleveland Shale.

Current research activity

Presents research most years at national and international conferences

Honors Received:

Ida Smith International Fellowship for Doctoral Research in England, 1952-55
Inventions Promotion Award from the National Research Development Department of India, 1968
Medal for excellence in paleobotanical research and lifetime achievement award from the Birbal-Savitri Sahni Foundation in Lucknow, India
Lifetime achievement award from the M.A.C.S. Agharkar Research Institute in Pune, India
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s Jared Potter Kirtland Award for outstanding achievement in a field of natural science
Award of appreciation from the Fossil Society (now the North Coast Fossil Club)
The Cardinal Award from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Inaugurated international botanical conference at Bhandara, India
Inaugurated the Center for Research in Paleobotany at Chandrapur, Ambedkar College, India
Award for scientific achievement, the BMM 2007 Convention in Seattle, Washington