I am a vertebrate paleontologist and herpetologist working as a postdoctoral fellow in Mark Norell's lab at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
The natural world is a fantastic and beautiful object of study. I have always been interested in the natural world, especially in vertebrate evolution. The American Museum is a fantastic place to pursue these interests and working with Mark has been and continues to be an honor and a pleasure.
Olivier Rieppel, a gentleman and reptile-anatomy guru, was my Ph.D. advisor while I attended the University of Chicago. He and I continue to collaborate on various squamate projects. My recent work includes studies on each of the major squamate groups (Iguania, Gekkota, Scincomorpha, and Anguimorpha). My colleagues and I seek to understand the evolution of these groups into the dizzying array of body forms and morphological diversity present in the fossil record and in faunas today. We are also interested in the origins of enigmatic groups such as Dibamidae, Amphisbaenia, and Ophidia (snakes).
Bird origins and dinosaur evolution are another area of interest for me and I continue to work on the evolutionary history of coelurosaurs. I am happy to be working with the Norell Lab on these projects in collaboration with James Clark, Peter Makovicky, and members of their labs.
I have also been fortunate enough to be offered the opportunity to co-curate a traveling exhibition at AMNH called Lizards & Snakes ALIVE!.
