Royal Veterinary College

Faculty Member, Veterinary Basic Sciences

Professor of Evolutionary Biomechanics

Thesis Title: The evolution of hindlimb anatomy and function in theropod dinosaurs

About

I'm an American biologist who has found a new home in the UK. I got my BS degree in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin in 1993, then received my PhD in Integrative Biology at the University of California with Kevin Padian in 2001, and rounded out my training with a two-year National Science Foundation bioinformatics Post Doc at the Biomechanical Engineering Division of Stanford University with Scott Delp.

I started at the RVC as a Lecturer in Evolutionary Biomechanics in 2003 in the Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences and was promoted to Reader in 2008. My interests are in the evolutionary biomechanics of locomotion, especially in large terrestrial vertebrates. I've studied birds, extinct dinosaurs and their relatives, elephants, and crocodiles. See my Research Interests page for details. I am now an Associate Editor for the Journal of Theoretical Biology (manuscripts must be submitted through their website).

I now have a sciencey blog! http://whatsinjohnsfreezer.com/

My RVC team comprises:

1. Postdocs and Fellows:
(a) Dr. Stephanie Pierce (NERC tetrapod locomotion postdoc)
(b) Dr. Olga Panagiotopoulou (BBSRC mammalian foot biomechanics grant and Marie Curie EU reintegration grant Fellow)
(c) Dr. Jeff Rankin (RVC Fellowship in Computer Modelling and Simulation)
(d) Dr. Heather Paxton (BBSRC broiler chicken biomechanics grant postdoc)

2. PhD students:
(a) Sharon Warner (mammalian foot biomechanics and pathology
(b) Julia Molnar (biomechanics of aquatic-terrestrial transitions in tetrapod evolution; also our Scientific Illustrator)
(c) Luis Lamas (emu locomotion biomechanics and ontogenetic scaling)
(d) Aleksandra Birn-Jeffery (co-supervisor with Monica Daley; bird stability and scaling)
(e) Anna Liedtke (co-supervisor with Andrew Spence; control and stability of many-legged animals)

3. Outside PhDs (as co-supervisor/collaborator):
(a) Ashley Heers (U Montana-Missoula w/Ken Dial et al.; bird flight origin and evolution)
(b) Michael Pittman (UCL w/Paul Upchurch; dinosaur tail mechanics/evolution)

4. Technicians:
(a) Julia Molnar (RVC Scientific Illustrator; also doing PhD with JRH)
(b) Philip Pickering (Biomechanics Research Technician, 2009-2012)

Contact Information