BACKGROUND
I hail from the great mountain states of Montana (the state of my birth) and Wyoming (the state of my childhood). I have a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin, and a bachelor's degree in the evolutionary biology of the human species from Columbia University. In March 2017, I completed my PhD at Duke University, working under the tutelage of Dr. Doug M. Boyer.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am primarily interested in the early primate origins and the locomotor adaptations exhibited by the fascinating species of the Paleocene and Eocene. My research has focused on the functional morphology of early primate hands and feet, particularly the joints of the ankle. I am also interested in interspecific allometry and how aspects of joint morphology (facet area, curvature, and shape) change as animals get larger. I have conducted field work in the Bighorn and Bridger Basins of Wyoming and the Eastern Crazy Mountains Basin of Montana. Stratigraphically, these basins range from the late Paleocene to the middle Eocene, and provide an excellent fossil record for the origination and diversification of many modern mammalian groups, including primates.
I hail from the great mountain states of Montana (the state of my birth) and Wyoming (the state of my childhood). I have a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Wisconsin, and a bachelor's degree in the evolutionary biology of the human species from Columbia University. In March 2017, I completed my PhD at Duke University, working under the tutelage of Dr. Doug M. Boyer.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
I am primarily interested in the early primate origins and the locomotor adaptations exhibited by the fascinating species of the Paleocene and Eocene. My research has focused on the functional morphology of early primate hands and feet, particularly the joints of the ankle. I am also interested in interspecific allometry and how aspects of joint morphology (facet area, curvature, and shape) change as animals get larger. I have conducted field work in the Bighorn and Bridger Basins of Wyoming and the Eastern Crazy Mountains Basin of Montana. Stratigraphically, these basins range from the late Paleocene to the middle Eocene, and provide an excellent fossil record for the origination and diversification of many modern mammalian groups, including primates.