Home > Research > Paleontology and Evolution
The Department of the Geophysical Sciences at the University of Chicago offers a rich environment for doctoral research across a broad spectrum of topics in paleontology and
stratigraphy, ranging from the biomechanics of individual organisms to global tectonics. In addition, we have an active community of evolutionary biologists, taxonomists and
paleontologists elsewhere on campus and at the nearby Field Museum of Natural History. The combination of the University's Department of the Geophysical Sciences and
Committee on Evolutionary Biology, along with the Field Museum, makes Chicago one of the foremost centers for evolutionary biology and paleobiology. Faculty in this
Department whose research focuses on paleobiology and historical geology are:
Other participating paleontologists and systematists, who teach and advise students through the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University, include:
As you will see in the descriptions of faculty research, we pursue a wide array of topics and, most importantly, pursue these questions using a
wide array of methods, ranging from classical field geology and paleontology to laboratory experimentation, statistical exploration of the primary literature, and theoretical modeling.
Students are exposed to these various methods of historical analysis through coursework during their first two years, with most courses requiring a research project that gives them
first-hand (and often publishable) experience in a set of techniques. They then design their dissertation research, in consultation with faculty advisors, on an independent topic that
best fits their interests and professional aims, involving the collection and analysis of an original dataset either in the field and laboratory or through museum work. As a sample of
recent and ongoing student research, see the list of dissertation titles provided below.
Graduate students are eligible for financial support in the form of Research Assistantships, Teaching Assistantships, and a variety of fellowships. Assistantships include payment of
tuition and a monthly stipend. Students with majors in the earth and biological sciences are encouraged to apply. If your background is more biological, you should consider
applying to the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the same time (one application fee will do both). Acceptance is based on the usual criteria : evidence of high scholastic
achievement via GREs, transcripts, and letters of recommendation . Some form of independent research experience is desirable. We encourage prospective students to discuss
their interests directly with faculty members at national meetings and, if possible, also to visit the campus to see our facilities and to meet faculty and graduate students.
Courses in Paleobiology and Historical Geology
- 22200 Principles of Stratigraphy (Kidwell)
- 22300 Introduction to Paleontology (Foote)
- 22900 Field Course on Modern and Ancient Carbonate Environments (staff, spring break)
- 23000 Field Course in Structural Geology and Stratigraphy (staff, spring break)
- 24000 Field course in Stratigraphy (staff, summer)
- 31400 Stratigraphic Analysis (Kidwell)
- 31500 Topics in Stratigraphy and Biosedimentology (Kidwell)
- 31700 Macroevolution (Jablonski)
- 31800 Taphonomy (Kidwell)
- 31900 Topics in Paleobiology (staff, seminar)
- 33000 Analytical Paleobiology (Foote)
- 33700 Present and Paleoclimatology (Staff)
- 34200 Biomechanics (LaBarbera; solids and fluids alternate years)
(plus other courses cross-listed through Evolutionary Biology)
Dissertation Topics of Recent Students, Paleo/Strat
- Rebecca Price 2003 “Function, ontogeny, and history of columellar folds in fasciolariid gastropods” (Advisor: Jablonski) now: post-doctoral fellow, University of North Carolina
- Shanan Peters 2003 “Evolution of community structure in early Paleozoic benthic macroinvertebrates” (Advisor: Foote) now: Michigan Fellow, University of Michigan
- Alistair McGowan 2003 “Macroevolutionary dynamics of Triassic ammonoids” (Advisor: Jablonski) now: post-doctoral fellow, University College, London
- Matthew Kosnik 2003 “Ecological response of benthic communities to the Mesozoic marine revolution” (Advisor: Jablonski) now: post-doctoral fellow, Marine Sciences
Institute, James Cook University, Australia
- Gene Hunt “Micro- and macroevolution of morphological covariance in ostracodes (Advisor: Foote) now: post-doctoral fellow, Dept. Biology, University of California San Diego
- Francesca Smith 2002 “Biogeography of Neogene C3 & C4 grasses: C-isopotic signatures of phytoliths (Advisors: Kidwell and White) now: post-doctoral fellow in biogeochemistry,
Pennsylvania State University
- Karin Goldberg 2001 “Paleoclimatic evolution of the Permian Parana Basin, southern Brazil (Advisors: Ziegler and Humayun)
- Kate Lyons 2001 “A quantitative assessment of the community structure and dynamics of Pleistocene mammals” (Advisor: Foote) now: post-doctoral fellow, University of New Mexico
(Biology)
- Rowan Lockwood 2001 “Extinction and rebound: evolutionary patterns in Late Cretaceous and Cenozoic bivalves” (Advisor: Jablonski) now: Assistant Professor, College of William
and Mary
- Mairi Best 2000 “Fates of skeletal carbonate in tropical siliciclastic and carbonate sediments, Carribean Panama” (Advisor: Kidwell) now: Assistant Professor, McGill University
- Melinda Brady 2000 “Patterns of Mophogenesis in Angiosperm Flowers” (Advisors: Crane, Foote)
- Hallie Simes 2000 “Evolutionary patterns in late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic seed morphology” (Advisors: Crane, Foote) now: post-doctoral fellow, Paleobiology Database,
Smithsonian Institution
- Robin O’Keefe 2000 “Phylogeny and Convergence in the Plesiosauria (Reptilia: Sauropterygia)” (Advisors: Hopson, Rieppel) now: post-doctoral fellow, NY College of Osteopathic
Medicine
- Roberto Cipriani 1999 "Evolution of heterostrophy and phylogeny of pyramidellid gastropods" (Advisor: Bieler) now: Assistant Professor, Univeridad Simon Bolivar, Caracas Venezuela
- Susana Magallon 1999 "Early diversification of eudicot floral morphology" (Advisor: Crane) now: post-doctoral fellow, University of California Davis
- Feng Xue 1998 "Exhumation of an ultrahigh-pressure metamorphic terrain in the Dabie Shan, China" (Advisor: Rowley) now: post-doctoral researcher, Univ. Chicago
- Daniel Miller 1998 "Large-scale temporal and biogeographic patterns of evolution in muricine gastropods: the role of predation" (Advisor: LaBarbera) now: Post-Doctoral Fellow,
Natural History Museum Basel (Switzerland)
- Richard Lupia 1997 "Cretaceous angiosperm diversity, paleoecology & paleobiogeography" (Advisor: Crane) now: Assistant Professor, University of Oklahoma
- Gunther Eble 1997 "The macroevolutionary history of diversity and disparity in disasteroid, holasteroid, and spatangoid heart urchins" Advisor: Jablonski now: Post-doctoral Fellow,
Smithsonian Institution and Santa Fe Institute
- Michael Hulver 1996 "Post-orogenic evolution of the Appalachian mountain system and its foreland" (Advisor: Rowley) now: Geologist, Aramco
- Paul Markwick 1996 "Late Cretaceous to Pleistocene climates: nature of the transition from a 'hot-house' to an 'ice-house' world" (Advisor: Ziegler) now: consultant, Robertson
Research UK
- Raymond Rogers 1995 "Sequence stratigraphy and vertebrate taphonomy of the Upper Cretaceous Two Medicine and Judith River Formations, Montana" (Advisor: Kidwell) now:
Assistant Professor, Macalester College
- Peter Wagner 1995 "The generation and maintenance of morphologic and phylogenetic diversity among Early Paleozoic gastropods" (Advisor: Sepkoski) now: Assistant Curator,
Field Museum Natural History
- Jane Masterson 1995 "The evolutionary history and significance of polyploidy in angiosperms" (Advisors: Crane & Jablonski) now: Lecturer, University of Chicago Lab School
- Elizabeth LeClair 1995 "Invertebrate vertebrae: evolutionary morphology and experimental biomechanics of Ophiuroidea (Echinodermata)" (Advisor: LaBarbera) now: Assistant
Professor, DePaul University
- Yao Ji-Ping 1994 "Approaches to paleoclimatic reconstructions with examples from the Mesozoic and Cenozoic of Eurasia" (Advisor: Ziegler) now: software Engineer, Malagan Partners
- Sherman Suter 1994 "Phylogenetic analyses of cassidulid echinoids: Morphology, homoplasy, and stratigraphic data" (Advisor: Jablonski) now: Book Review Editor, Science
- Kaustuv Roy 1994 "Temporal patterns of taxonomic, morphologic and biogeographic change in stromboidean gastropods and their macroevolutionary implications" (Advisor: Jablonski)
now: Assistant Professor, Univ. California San Diego
- John Alroy 1994 "Quantitative mammalian biochronology and biogeography of North America" (Advisors: Raup & Jablonski) now: post-doctoral fellow, National Center for Ecological
Analysis & Synthesis
- Jay A. Schneider 1993 "Evolutionary patterns of cardiid bivalves" (Advisor: Jablonski) now: Weeks Postdoctoral Fellow, Univ. Wisconsin
- Mark E. Patzkowsky 1992 "Ecological and evolutionary dynamics of the Ordovician radiation of articulate brachiopods" (Advisor: Sepkoski) now: Assistant Professor, Penn. State Univ.
- Eric D. Gyllenhaal 1991 "How accurately can paleo-precipitation and paleoclimatic change be interpreted from subaerial unconformities?" (Advisor: Kidwell) now: Staff Scientist,
Field Museum of Natural History
- Nie Shang-You 1990 "Constraints on the Paleozoic plate reconstruction of China" (Advisor: Ziegler) now: Petroleum Geologist, Amoco
- Daniel W. McShea 1990 "Complexity and evolution" (Advisor: Raup) now: Assistant Professor, Duke University (Biology)
- Conrad C. Labandiera 1990 "Use of a phenetic analysis of Recent hexapod mouthparts for the distribution of hexapod food resource guilds in the fossil record" (Advisor: Raup)
now: Associate Curator, Smithsonian Institution
- Mark A. Horrell 1990 "A global-scale reconstruction of Late Cretaceous (Maestrichtian) climate" (Advisor: Ziegler) now: Faculty, Illinois Math & Sciences Academy
- Steven M. Holland 1990 "Distinguishing eustasy and tectonics in foreland basin sequences: the Upper Ordovician of the Cincinnati Arch and Appalachian Basin (Advisor: Kidwell)
now: Associate Professor, Univ. Georgia
- Tomasz K. Baumiller 1990 "Crinoid functional morphology and the energetics of passive suspension feeding: implications to the evolutionary history of Paleozoic Crinoidea"
(Advisor: LaBarbera) now: Assistant Professor, Univ. Michigan
- George E. Boyajian 1989 "Taxon aging and its role in models of background and mass extinction" (Advisor: Sepkoski) now: private consultant in bioengineering, Philadelphia
- Michael J. Foote 1989 "Morphologic evolution of Cambrian and Ordovician trilobites" (Advisor: Raup) now: Associate Professor, Univ. Chicago
- Charles R. Marshall 1989 "DNA-DNA hybridization, morphology and the fossil record of sand dollars (Echinodermata: Clypeasteroida): phylogeny and rates of single-copy
DNA evolution" (Advisor: Raup) now: Professor, Harvard University
Current PhD Candidates
- Dave Sunderlin: Late Paleozoic paleobotany, biogeography, and tectonics of Northern Pangea (Ziegler and Rowley)
- Tom Rothfus: Preservational quality in fossil assemblages and its relation to paleoecological bias (Kidwell)
- Emily Allen: Active and passive mechanisms in the evolution of ammonite morphological complexity (Jablonski)
- Bjarte Hannisdal: Inferring microevolutionary patterns from the fossil record using Bayesian inversion (Kidwell)
- Carl Simpson: Species selection and morphological trends in camerate crinoids (Foote)
- Surangi Punyasena: Late Quaternary neotropical vegetation response to climate change (McElwain)
- Lee Hsiang Liow: Nature of geologically persistent taxa among crinoids, brachyurans and ostracodes (Lidgard)
- plus 6 pre-candidacy graduate students
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