Lab Members

Current Students

	Garrett Brown Undergraduate	Garrett is collecting topographic data from CT scans of marsupial and primate 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 species and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.
	Nicholas Burkart Undergraduate	Nicholas is collecting topographic data from CT scans of marsupial and primate 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 species and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.
	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 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 Mussemann Undergraduate	Grant is studying rates of enamel growth and wear in the molars of notoungulates with ever-growing (hypselodont) cheek teeth. This has not been investigated previously in this extinct group, and our hope is that it will eventually become another approach for investigating the dietary paleoecology of this group.
	Skylar Reichlin MS Student	Skylar is describing several specimens of octodontoid rodents from the Early Miocene site of Chucal in northern Chile. These include at least two species, one of which is a species of Acarechimys, a genus of very small caviomorphs that has been recorded from throughout South America.
	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 primate 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 primates and then use CT scans of extinct species to reconstruct their diets.

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)
• Anish Buddi, Undergraduate (2024)
• 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)
• Sophia Damico, MS Student (2022-24)
• 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 Volk, MS Student (2014-15)
• Andrew Weber, MS Student (2022-24)
• Nick Whalen, Undergraduate (2018-19)