Meet our speakers for 2019:

Eric Larcinese is a Certified Professional Geologist and has a Bachelor of Science in Geology from Eastern Michigan University.  Larcinese owns an environmental consulting firm and is a partner in GeoScape Rock Shop.  When not conducting ground water investigations and clean ups across Michigan, he works at the rock shop in Paw Paw, Michigan where he is procurement and warehouse supervisor .   He is a firm believer in community involvement and has focused some of his volunteer time for earth science and environmental  education including Science Olympiad events.  Larcinese is father to two adult children and has been married to Ann longer than the age of some rocks in Hawaii.  He enjoys fossil and rock collecting across the Midwest, Ontario and the western States. 

Krystle Dorris is a graduate of the University of Wyoming and part owner of Pinnacle 5 Minerals LLC in Manitou Springs, CO. From an early age, she was introduced to minerals and gemstones by her father, Joseph Dorris. Krystle has enjoyed digging in the Colorado mountains with her family for over 25 years and has developed extensive knowledge in mineral extraction. In addition, she runs the operations and club/public visits for the Topaz Mountain Gem Claim in Park County, CO during the summer months.

In 2012, Krystle became a cast member on the television series “Prospectors”, which follows members of the Colorado collecting community as they document their process of digging for minerals and gemstones. Many of you may have also met Krystle at various mineral shows across the country. One of her passions is jewelry and metalsmithing, which she has been developing skills for the last six years.

Steve Arnold is a professional meteorite hunter, television host and entrepreneur. Since 1992, he has made a career of hunting for meteorites. During that time he has worked with countless private collectors, scientists, and museum curators in an effort to help them enhance their array of specimens.

Mr. Arnold’s work has been documented in hundreds of newspapers around the world including a front page, column one, feature story in the L.A. Times. Highlights of his various accomplishments have been written about in

Newsweek, Astronomy, Sky and Telescope, Astronomy Now, Meteorite Magazine, and WIRED Magazine. He has also guest starred in several television shows including Travel Channel’s Cash and Treasures, WIRED Science on PBS, NBC’s Today Show, National Geographic, and Discovery’s documentary Cosmic Collisions.

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Steve hosted the award winning television series, Meteorite Men, with his longtime friend and hunting partner, Geoff Notkin. The series ran successfully for three seasons, airing on Science Channel in the United States and on Discovery Networks in many international markets. The pair introduced millions of viewers to the excitement of hunting for meteorites all across the globe. Their adventures have taken them north of the Arctic Circle in Sweden, into Canada, Chile’s Atacama Desert, Russia, Poland, the desolate Outback of Australia, and throughout the United States.

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Steve and his wife, Qynne, run the only retail meteorite store in the United States located in historic Eureka Springs, Arkansas, called Arnold Meteorites and More. They also have an active online and eBay business designed to serve experienced collectors as well as reach out to people who have not yet purchased their first meteorite.

Erik Rintamaki is a life long rock hound from Brimley Michigan. In 2017 he was picking the shores of Lake Superior at night using longwave UV lights, and made the discovery of a lifetime.  Every rock pickers dream is to find something new and Erik did just that. What Erik found was later tested and verified to be Syenites rich in fluorescent Sodalite, which he branded Yooperlites. Testing done by the Michigan Mineralogy Project, they concluded that this find was the first verified occurrence of fluorescent Sodalite in Michigan.

In May of 2018 Erik was credited with the discovery in The Mineral News. In July of 2018 Erik had a Yooperlite picking video go viral around the world with tens of millions of views.
 

Yooperlites have now become a worldwide phenomenon with thousands of articles and news stories written about them. In 2018 Yooperlites were featured in articles by CBS, NBC, ABC, Forbes Magazine, The Detroit Free Press, and The Detroit News to name a few. In 2019 Erik and Yooperlites are being featured in both the April and May issues of Rock & Gem magazine, and PBS did a documentary as well.Erik now runs Yooperlites.com and travels the world sharing his passion for Yooperlites with young and old alike.

Paleo Joe! Joseph has always been a “collector.”  Throughout his life, he enjoyed collecting unique items from butterflies to military medals.  His greatest and most prevalent fascination is fossils; trilobites and Dinosaurs in particular.  He began to develop his fossil collection and subsequent search for knowledge as a young boy growing up in the fossil rich Niagara Falls area. 

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             He has always enjoyed the opportunity to share his knowledge and experiences with others.  He assembled a fine collection of marine invertebrates from the Niagara Frontier area and, prior to his entering the US Army in 1979, donated it to the Schoelkopf Geological Museum of Niagara Falls. 

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             Following his military service he, once again, began to collect fossils and at this point began to specialize in Trilobites. These were the ancient salt water sea creatures that once thrived in the tropical seas that once covered Michigan, New York and Ohio.

Since moving to Midland, Michigan in 1993, Joseph has taught classes on fossils in many Michigan elementary and middle schools.  As he gained a reputation as an energetic and entertaining speaker in the persona of  “PaleoJoe”, dressing and playing the part of a “digger” he has taught programs around the states of Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Utah, Iowa, Wisconsin and into northern Ohio.

2019 Presentation Schedule

Friday

5:00pm - Learn about the Kalamazoo Rock Club

6:30 –   Steve Arnold from History Channels Meteorite Men talks about his travels

Saturday

11:00am -  Everything Opals by Jim Traill

12:00pm –  Paleo Joe - Paleontology

1:00pm -   Eric Larcinese, Geologist, Intro to Rocks and Minerals

2:00pm –  Erik Rintamaki – Discovery of Yooperlites

3:00pm –  Krystal Dorris from The Weather Channels Prospectors talk about her travels.

4:00pm –  Steve Arnold from Science Channel Meteorite Men talks about his travels.

5:00pm – Learn about the Kalamazoo Rock Club

Sunday

​11:00am -  Paleo Joe - Paleontology

12:00pm - Meteorites by Cosmic Connection

1:00pm –  Erik Rintamaki – Discovery of Yooperlites

2:00pm –  KVCC Geology

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2:20 -  Steve Arnold from Science Channel Meteorite Men talks about his travels.

3:30pm Paleo Joe - Paleontology