---

My research covers diverse and interdisciplinary topics, and I often just call myself a scientist. Still, I am perhaps best described as a paleontologist with an interest in experimental and molecular taphonomy (i.e., how fossils preserve). Whether in the field, museum collection, or lab, my work often focuses on fossilization, dinosaurs, feather evolution, and sexual selection. I study these topics through experimentation, statistical simulations, and direct analyses of fossils and modern organisms.

I am originally from Jacksonville, Florida, USA. I am a Research Associate of Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History in the Life Sciences Section of its Negaunee Integrative Research Center (previously a Bass Postdoctoral Researcher in the Earth Sciences Section), one of the nation’s top museums. Most recently, I was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Chicago, one of the top US universities and centers of paleontology research, in the Fossil Lab of the Department of Organismal Biology & Anatomy (Biological Sciences Division). I have also taught paleontology as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences (cross-listed with the Department of Biological Sciences), and I am an Adjunct Lecturer at Benedictine University (Lisle, IL) in Biological Sciences. 

This work is performed alongside an extensive network of collaborators from North America, Europe, Asia, and South America. The research has been covered in media outlets such as: The New York Times, BBC (including National and Bristol radio), The Atlantic, Science, Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Discover Magazine, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, ABC News, Illustreret Videnskab, Popular Science, The Economist, International Business Times, Cosmos, Inverse, Live Science, Der Spiegel, Vice, Atlas Obscura, IFLScience, National Geographic, PBS Eons, New Scientist, USA Today, Sky News, MIT Technology Review, and The Skeptics Guide to the Universe.

---

CURRICULUM VITAE

Education

#1 paleontology research group globally (Center for World University Rankings 2017)

Ph.D.

Geology, University of Bristol (U.K.), Viva 2018

Thesis: The taphonomy of soft tissues and the evolution of feathers

M.Sc. Distinction 

Palaeobiology, University of Bristol (U.K.), Completed 2015 

Thesis: The taphonomy of keratin in archosaurs

#1 U.S. university (U.S. News & World Report 2010, 2012-2014)

B.A. Magna Cum Laude 

Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, 2014

Thesis: Paleobiology of North American stegosaurs: Evidence for sexual dimorphism

Media: Princeton University Office of Communications, Princeton Alumni Weekly

---

General coverage of my research:

Magazine article (cover story): Science Illustrated (in Danish, also see Australian version)

Written interview: Darwin’s Door (University of Birmingham student blog)

Radio interview: These Vibes Are Too Cosmic (WPRB Princeton 103.3)

Brief mention in: Greenwalt (2023) Remnants of Ancient Life. Princeton University Press

---

Links:

---