I am an Associate Professor in the University of Southern California’s Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences. My lab investigates the origins of mammalian skeletal function, and applies hard-tissue histology & biomedical imaging techniques to modern and fossil bone to better understand the complex origins of mammalian behavior, growth, and endothermic physiology (warm-bloodedness). As part of this work, my team has investigated the fossil record of early mammals and their extinct relatives–"synapsids"–at Permian and Triassic field sites in Africa, Antarctica, and the western United States (funded by the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of the Interior). My lab also utilizes polarized light microscopy techniques to study collagen fiber orientation in bone and its relevance to bone behavior & function.

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My aims are to promote an appreciation of deep-time and macroevolutionary patterns in the fossil record through field- and lab-based methods, and to train students broadly in anatomy, evolution, and the paleosciences.