Lab Members

Students are an important part of any research lab, and I have been fortunate enough to work with many graduate, undergraduate, and high school students. You can read a little bit about students currently working in my lab and their projects below.

Current Students

Garrett Garrett Brown
Undergraduate
Garrett is collecting topographic data from CT scans of marsupial teeth as part of a collaboration with researchers at the University of Salford. The aim of the study is to correlate topographic features with diet in living marsupials and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.
Anish Buddi
Undergraduate
Anish is describing a tooth of an unusual litoptern called Megadolodus from the middle Miocene site of La Venta, Colombia. The specimen is in good condition but contains many fractures that have pushed apart the different pieces. Anish is using a CT of the specimen to virtually reconstruct it so he can take accurate measurements and describe it in greater detail.
Nicholas Burkart
Undergraduate
Nicholas is collecting topographic data from CT scans of marsupial teeth as part of a collaboration with researchers at the University of Salford. The aim of the study is to correlate topographic features with diet in living marsupials and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.
Sophia Sophia Damico
MS Student
Sophia is studying a skull of an extinct, ~16 million-year-old carnivorous marsupial (sparassodont) from Bolivia. One part of her project involves virtually reconstructing its cranial cavity from a CT scan in order to describe what its brain looked like. She will also describe the complex bony anatomy of the ear and the base of the skull.
Russell E Russell Engelman
PhD Student
Russell has been working with me since he was a senior at West Geauga High School. He earned his BS from CWRU in 2015 and received the prestigious Michelson-Morley prize in Biology. He earned his MS in 2018 with a thesis that resulted in three papers on extinct marsupials of South America: one on paucituberculatans (extinct relatives of shrew-opossums) from Quebrada Honda, Bolivia, and two on sparassodonts (carnivorous marsupials) from central Chile. He has published several other papers on carnivorous marsupials, and his PhD dissertation will focus on carnivorous mammals in both South America and Africa.

Rob Evenden
MS Student

Rob is describing bones of “terror birds” (phorusrhacids) from the middle Miocene of Quebrada Honda, Bolivia. The bones are relatively fragmentary, but they are important because no phorusrhacid remains have ever been described from Bolivia. Additionally, no Miocene remains have been described from the entire northern half of South America, even though these birds traveled to North America during the Great American Biotic Interchange.
Maura McDonald Maura McDonald
Undergraduate
Maura is analyzing a CT scan of a large sparassodont (meat-eating marsupial) known as Dukecynus, a species from the middle Miocene site of La Venta, Colombia. The specimen is the holotype skull (the original specimen on which the species was based), but it is crushed, and the goal is to see how much additional information can be gleaned from this scan. This information will be included in a study of other specimens of this species. 
Grant Grant Musseman
Undergraduate
Grant has yet to finalize his project, but he is interested in doing something involving paleohistology: looking at the microscopic structure of bones to determine aspects of growth and function in extinct mammals.
Julia Julia Van Orman
Undergraduate
Julia is a student at Macalester College and is describing a juvenile astrapothere specimen from the middle Miocene of Quebrada Honda, Bolivia that consists of an upper jaw with two teeth. Astrapothere remains have been known from this site for nearly 50 years, but they are fragmentary and have never been described. With these teeth, it should be possible to get a more precise identification. 
Sophie Verbeke
Undergraduate
Sophie is collecting topographic data from CT scans of marsupial teeth as part of a collaboration with researchers at the University of Salford. The aim of the study is to correlate topographic features with diet in living marsupials and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.
Andrew Weber Andrew Weber
MS Student
Andrew’s thesis focuses on xenarthrans (sloths, armadillos, and anteaters and their extinct relatives). Specifically, he is measuring (quantifying) morphological diversity in the group in order to compare the disparity of armored xenarthrans such as armadillos and glyptodonts with that of sloths and anteaters. The findings may have implications for classifying these mammals, whose evolutionary relationships have underdone many revisions in recent years.

Past Students (alphabetical order)

  • Ellen Adams, Undergraduate (Summer 2018)
  • Cara Anderson, Undergraduate (2013-14)
  • Leah Anderson, MS Student (2004-07)
  • Kanvaly Bamba, PhD Student (2010-19)
  • Brian Barbieri, Undergraduate (2014-15)
  • Mariana Blanco, Undergraduate (2020-21)
  • Troy Bowers, Undergraduate (2020-21)
  • Marie Brosovich, High School Intern (Summer 2010)
  • Jeb Bugos, Undergraduate (2020-21)
  • Megan Burns, Undergraduate (Summer 2005)
  • Beth Carroll, MS Student (2004-07)
  • Angeline Catena, PhD Student (2013-18)
  • Jen Chick, MS Student (2007-10)
  • Tatiana Dolgushina, Undergraduate (2009-10)
  • Nicholas Drew, MS Student (2011-13)
  • Andrew Franco, Undergraduate (2010-11)
  • Amy Gao, Undergraduate (2023)
  • Susan Grana, Undergraduate (Summer 2005)
  • Pat Guder, Undergraduate (2012, 2014)
  • Aaron Holland, Undergraduate (2019-20)
  • Tara Kelloway, MS Student (2012-14)
  • Maeve Kolk, High School Intern (Summer 2013)
  • Nathanael Lee, Undergraduate (2021-23)
  • Smruthi Maganti, Undergraduate (2017-19)
  • Bhavya Mahesh, Undergraduate (2021-23)
  • Andy McGrath, Undergraduate (2012-15)
  • Diane Moon, Undergraduate (2010-11)
  • Maria Murphy, High School Intern (Summer 2017)
  • Kyle Niemi, Undergraduate (Spring 2009)
  • David Parker, High School Intern (Summer 2009)
  • Niki Perez, MS Student (2012-13)
  • Alix Prybyla, High School Intern (Summer 2012)
  • Katie Prybyla, High School Intern (Summer 2013)
  • Deborah Rook, Undergraduate (Spring 2007)
  • Melissa Sameh, Undergraduate (2010-11)
  • Stephanie Sang, Undergraduate (Summer 2010, 2012)
  • Thomas Sheppard, Undergraduate (Spring 2007)
  • Joanna Sherman, High School Intern (Summer 2015)
  • Catherine Taylor, Undergraduate (2014-16)
  • Danielle Thornsberry, Undergraduate (2013-14)
  • Elizabeth Tobin, Undergraduate (2017-18)
  • Valentine VolkMS Student (2014-15)
  • Nick Whalen, Undergraduate (2018-19)
Top