CV K-T Extinction Dinosaurs Archaeopteryx Lizards and Snakes About Me Contact
Having moved to the University Bath in September of 2013, I'm currently working to set up a laboratory using fossils to study major evolutionary transitions... once this process is a little further along we'll have something more than this rather haiku-like page up here now.
The idea is to use fossils to focus on understanding the Big Picture. Ultimately, describing new species, understanding morphology, and generating cladograms is critical to producing the data we need to understand evolution. But the idea behind the lab is that we can, and should, use the fossil record to do more. The idea is to use traditional paleontological approaches as a jumping-off point to doing more- going from the micro to the macro, and understanding macroevolutionary change. Major events in evolution that have dramatically altered the history of life on Earth. This would include events like the origins of new body plans, such as the origination of birds from dinosaurs, or snakes from lizards. Mass extinction events driven by sudden global change, like the K-T mass extinction and the E-O extinctions. Biogeography- does continental drift really drive biogeography, or do rafting and land bridges predominate, as Darwin and Wallace argued? I'm interested in using classic descriptive paleontology, systematics and morphometrics to understand these kinds of problems.
To do that, we're currently looking to recruit a small but dedicated research group of graduate students and postdocs. We're looking for students who are hardworking, passionate about understanding evolution and fossils, and always looking to challenge themselves to be better and do more. Currently, I'm advertising a PhD studying crocodilian evolution from the Cenozoic to the Paleogene; in future years the plan is to offer Phd projects looking at similar themes. Bath isn't a huge university so we're not building a giant lab, but we are always ready to take people who bring funding- so if you have a scholarship or fellowship and have an idea for a research project that fits with the themes of the lab, and just need a place to do it, drop us a line.