The Nevada Division of Museums and History announced that Josh Bonde has been selected to serve as director of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City.
Bonde starts his role July 11. He succeeds Myron Freedman, the museum director since 2017 and now the administrator of the Nevada Division of Museums and History.
A native Nevadan raised in Fallon, Bonde is a member of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone. He attended the University of Nevada, Reno, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology before completing a Master of Science in Earth Sciences from Montana State University, and a Ph.D. in Geoscience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Bonde is passionate about educational outreach and telling the stories of all Nevadans. A geologist and paleontologist by profession, Bonde and his colleagues recently described the first dinosaur species unique to Nevada – a small two-legged plant eating animal named Nevadadromeus schmitti.
Bonde has served as academic faculty at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and was director of Conservation and Research at the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. He also co-founded and served as research director of the Nevada Science Center.
He has been a board member for the Southern Nevada Conservancy, the Geological Society of Nevada, and the McCaw School of Mines. Former Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval appointed Bonde to the advisory council for the Tule Springs Fossil Beds National Monument.
In 2020, Bonde was recognized as a “40 under 40” award recipient by Las Vegas Weekly for his work conserving Nevada history.
