I’m a vertebrate paleontologist and systematist who applies phylogenetic methods to understand biodiversity. I’m interested in the reciprocal light morphological, genomic, and fossil data can shed on the phylogeny, distribution, and diversity of groups throughout their evolutionary histories.

Most of my lab’s work explores the phylogeny and historical biogeography of crocodyliforms – alligators, crocodiles, gharials, and their close relatives. Their low present diversity (23 recognized species) and rich fossil record gives us a rare opportunity to integrate the earth and life sciences.  We can synthesize molecular data from all living species with the deep-time perspective directly obtainable only from fossils.  Crocodyliform fossils are known from every continent and are ubiquitous in continental and nearshore deposits from the time they first appear in the Jurassic to the present.  We can look at biotic responses to climate and tectonic change over a variety of time scales.