My dissertation research is on the phylogeny, ecomorphology, and biogeography of alligatorines. I seek to understand how alligatorines have changed over time and how those changes relate to their ecology and environment, such as dietary niche shift and climate change. I use a combination of phylogenetic, morphometric, and biogeographical techniques to quantify my data, which include both extant and extinct forms.
I studied morphological variation in Lystrosaurus crania for my Master's degree using geometric morphometrics and am continuing to build on it. My goals in this area are to determine the number of valid Lystrosaurus species—much of this work done on Chinese specimens—and to quantify changes across the Permian-Triassic boundary. I seek to understand what selective pressures these animals were feeling during the end-Permian extinction and why they became so successful following it.
As an undergraduate, I studied the tooth enamel microstructure of phytosaurs and other Triassic archosaurs to determine if any fine-scale phylogenetic signal exists in reptilian tooth enamel and what the microstructure says about dietary habits.