Professor
Northern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
My areas of research include functional morphology, comparative anatomy, mammalogy and vertebrate paleotology. I primarily study mammals although I have worked with dinosaurs and birds to a minor extent. Some of my recent presentations at the American Anatomy Association meetings have been on building new reconstructions of structure and function in the cranial region of Smilodon fatalis, the extinct sabertooth cat from Rancho la Brea. Other mammalian groups I have (and continue) to study include the Xenarthra, a group consisting of the Pilosa (hairy xenarthrams) the sloths, and the armored xenarthrans, the anteaters and armadillos. I have conducted field work in Central and South America, studying the living taxa belonging to this group as well as examining specimens of these animals from the research collections of natural history museums in both the New and Old Worlds.
A new direction into which my research has expanded in recent years is Artificial Intelligence (AI). This research includes includes creating mimigames that will become cell phone applications to assist students in learning the details of human gross anatomy. My collaborators and I have presented some of these results at previous AAA meetings. We are continuing to build new minigames that we anticipate will engage students in learning from a medium they prefer (cell phone apps) over reading information from a traditional text book or typical written materials.
My teaching responsibilities include human gross anatomy, comparative vertebrate anatomy, vertebrate paleontology, forensic sciences and research methodology for graduate students.
I am a professor of Biological Sciences and Director of Graduate Studies at Northern Illinois Uiversity.
