Patrick O’Connor is an associate professor of anatomical sciences in the department of biomedical sciences at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies. He received a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences (vertebrate paleontology) from Stony Brook University in 2003 and a bachelors degree in physical anthropology from Michigan State University in 1992. His main research examines the evolution of archosaurs (birds, crocodyliforms and dinosaurs) and includes laboratory, museum and field studies. His comparative research examines the evolution of integrated-systems anatomy in extant birds, whereas his paleontology work focuses on the morphology, systematics and biogeography of mid-late Mesozoic terrestrial vertebrate faunas from Gondwana. O’Connor is involved with ongoing field research in Tanzania, Madagascar, Egypt, Zimbabwe and Antarctica.

Contact: oconnorp@ohio.edu
Links: Patrick O’Connor’s website

Joseph Sertich is currently completing his Ph.D. in the department of anatomical sciences at Stony Brook University, where his research focuses on the systematics and paleobiogeography of Mesozoic crocodyliforms. His masters research, earned from the department of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah, characterized a Late Cretaceous terrestrial fauna from Kenya. He has done field research in Cretaceous deposits in Utah, Madagascar, Tanzania, Kenya and Egypt.

Nancy Stevens is an assistant professor at Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Ohio University Center of Ecology and Evolutionary Studies. She received a Ph.D. in anthropological sciences in 2003 from Stony Brook University, a masters in philosophy in biological anthropology from the University of Cambridge in 1994, and a bachelors in anthropology from Michigan State University in 1992. Her research focuses on the effects of environmental change upon vertebrate faunal dynamics and draws on comparative anatomy and functional morphology to explore how phylogeny and environment shape locomotor and feeding morphology. Her work in the Red Sandstone Group of Tanzania has revealed a novel Paleogene fossil assemblage that provides a snapshot of the African fauna prior to the Paleogene-Neogene transition. In recent years, Stevens has also conducted field research in the Cretaceous-early Cenozoic of Namibia, Nigeria, Yemen and Oman.

Eric Roberts is a lecturer of sedimentology at James Cook University in Queensland, Australia. He received a Ph.D. in geology in 2005 from the University of Utah, a masters degree in geology from the University of Montana in 1999, and a bachelors degree in geology and environmental studies from Cornell College in 1996. His research focuses on sedimentology and basin analysis of Mesozoic and early Cenozoic basins, synthesizing facies and provenance analysis with geochronologic and paleontologic data to interpret regional stratigraphy, tectonics and paleoenvironments. Roberts has conducted research in Africa and North America at field sites in places including Mali, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, as well as in Utah and Montana.

Michael Gottfried is curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Michigan State University Museum. He received a Ph.D. in 1991 and a masters in philosophy in 1987 in systematics and ecology from the University of Kansas, and a bachelors degree from the University of Berkeley in 1980. His work examines the evolutionary history and biogeography of freshwater and marine fish. Primary research interests include exploring Gondwanan fish radiations through fieldwork in New Zealand and Madagascar, in addition to describing the extensive fish materials recovered from both the Galula (middle Cretaceous) and Nsungwe (late Oligocene) formations exposed in the Rukwa Rift Basin of Tanzania, as they relate to the faunas currently inhabiting the East African great lakes.

Tobin Hieronymus is an assistant professor in the department of anatomy and neurobiology at Northeastern Ohio University’s College of Medicine, and received his Ph.D. in 2009 in biological sciences from Ohio University. His research focuses on the development and evolution of hard keratinized skin structures in vertebrates—beaks, scales, horns and feathers—using an integrative approach that combines field paleontology and classical comparative anatomy with evolutionary modeling and molecular approaches. He is interested in how common developmental processes influence the patterns of phenotypic evolution observed in the fossil record.

Zubair Jinnah is an associate lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he is also working towards a Ph.D. in sedimentology. His research interests include the depositional environment, age and correlation of fossil-bearing rocks, and he has been involved in research projects in South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and the U.S.

Ryan Ridgely is a research associate in the department of biomedical sciences at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine. He received a bachelors degree in pre-veterinary sciences with a minor in geology from the University of Rhode Island in 2000. Research activities center on 3-D modeling and exploring the evolution of vertebrate cranial anatomy.

Sifa Ngasala is a Ph.D. candidate in geological sciences at Michigan State University (MSU). He received a bachelors degree in 2000 and a masters degree in 2004 in geology from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 2003, he began working with the Rukwa Rift Basin Project as a graduate student, helping to characterize the sedimentology of the Basin. His Ph.D. research at MSU examines regional and continental biogeographic patterning and paleoecological implications of the evolutionary radiation of lungfishes on the African continent and beyond.