Faculty

Assistant Professor

Amy Balanoff, PhD

Research focus:

  • Phylogenetic Relationships of Non-avian Dinosaurs
  • Structural and Functional Evolution of the Vertebrate Central Nervous System
  • Behavioral Imaging of Bird Brains

E-mail: [email protected]

Smaers JB, Rothman RS, Hudson D, Balanoff A, et al. 2021. The evolution of mammalian brain size. Science Advances 7:eabe2101.

Choiniere J, Neenan JM, Schmitz L, Ford DP, Chapelle KEJ, Balanoff AM, et al. 2021. Specialized nocturnal sensory adaptations in alvarezsauroid dinosaurs. Science 372:610-613.

Watanabe A, Balanoff AM, P.M. Gignac, M.E.L. Gold, M.A. Norell. 2021. Novel neuroanatomical integration and scaling define avian brain shape evolution and development. eLife 10: e68809. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.68809

Ksepka DT, Early CM, Dzikiewicz K, Balanoff AM. 2023. Osteology and neuroanatomy of a Miocene phasianid (Aves: Galliformes) from the Miocene of Nebraska. Journal of Paleontology 97:223-242.

Cerio DG, LLera Martin CJ, Hogan AVC, Balanoff AM, Watanabe A, Bever GS. Early View. Differential growth of the adductor muscles, eyeball, and brain in the chick Gallus gallus with comments on the fossil record of stem-group birds. Journal of Morphology.

Associate Professor

Gabriel Bever, PhD

Research focus:

  • Evolution of variability
  • Evolution / development of vertebrate skeleton
  • Origin of the major tetrapod crown clades
  • Fossils and molecules in evolutionary theory

E-mail: [email protected]

Lyson, T.R., T.M. Scheyer, B.Rubidge, K. de Queiroz, E.R. Schachner, R. Smith, J. Botha-Brink, and G.S. Bever. (2016) Fossorial origin of the turtle shell. Current Biology 26: 1887–1894. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.05.020

Bhullar, B.-A.S., Hanson, M., Fabbri, M., Pritchard, A., Bever, G.S., Hoffman, E. (2016) How to make a bird skull: major transitions in the evolution of the avian cranium. Integrative and Comparative Biology 56: 389-403. DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw069

Bever, G.S., T.R. Lyson, D.J. Field, B.-A.S. Bhullar. (2016). The amniote temporal roof and the diapsid origin of the turtle skull. Zoology.DOI:10.1016/j.zool.2016.04.005

Assistant Professor

Siobhán Cooke, PhD

Research Focus:

  • Dental functional morphology
  • Masticatory biomechanics
  • Platyrrhine evolution
  • Caribbean extinction
  • Three dimensional geometric morphometrics
  • Caribbean and Neotropical mammalian evolution and biogeography

E-mail: [email protected]

Halenar, L.B., Cooke, S.B., Rosenberger, A.L., and Rímoli, R. (2017) New cranium of the endemic Caribbean platyrrhine, Antillothrix bernensis, from La Altagracia Province, Dominican Republic. Journal of Human Evolution 106: 133-153. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.002

Tallman, M. and Cooke, S.B. (2016) New endemic platyrrhine humerus from Haiti and the evolution of the Greater Antillean platyrrhines. Journal of Human Evolution 91: 144-166. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.010

Cooke, S.B., Terhune, C.E. (2015) Form, function, and geometric morphometrics. The Anatomical Record 298: 5-28. DOI: 10.1002/ar.23065

Professor & Director

Matthew J. Ravosa, PhD

Research focus:

  • Experimental biology
  • Mechanobiology
  • Skull & feeding apparatus
  • Musculoskeletal systems

E-mail: [email protected]

Mitchell, D.R., Wroe, S., Ravosa, M.J. & Menegaz, R.A. (2021) More challenging diets sustain feeding performance: Applications towards captive rearing of wildlife. Integrative Organismal Biology 3:obab030. (cover image) 

Kraatz, D., Belabbas, R., Fostowicz-Frelik, Ł., Ge, D.-Y., Kuznetsov, A.N., Lang, M., Lopez-Torres, S., Racicot, R.A., Ravosa, M.J., Sharp, A.C., Sherratt, E., Silcox, M.T., Słowiak, J., Winker, A.J. & Ruf, I. (2021) Lagomorpha as a model organism. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution: Phylogenetics, Phylogenomics, and Systematics 9:ar636402.

Nett, E.M., Jaglowski, B., Ravosa, L.J., Ravosa, D.D. & Ravosa, M.J. (2021) Mechanical properties of food and masticatory behavior in llamas, Llama glama. Journal of Mammalogy 102:1375-1389.

Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director

Adam D. Sylvester, PhD

Research focus:

  • Early hominin, human and primate locomotion
  • Functional anatomy of the postcranial skeleton
  • Statistical analysis of biological shape
  • Bone structure and microstructure

E-mail: [email protected]

Sylvester, A.D. and Terhune, C.E. (2017). Trabecular mapping: Leveraging geometric morphometrics for analyses of trabecular structure. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:553-569. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23231

Auerbach, B.M., Gooding, A.F., Shaw, C.N., and Sylvester, A.D. (2017). The relative position of the human fibula to the tibia influences cross‐sectional properties of the tibia. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 163:148-157. DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.23196

Sylvester AD. (2013). A geometric morphometric analysis of the hominid medial tibial condyle. The Anatomical Record 296:1518-1525. DOI: 10.1002/ar.22762

Emeritus Faculty

Professor Emeritus

Ken Rose, PhD

Research focus:

  • Early Tertiary mammalian functional anatomy
  • Patterns of evolution in mammalian functional anatomy
  • Faunal succession and diversity
  • The Eocene of Wyoming

E-mail: [email protected]

Ruf, I., V. Volpato, K.D. Rose, G. Billet, C. de Muizon, and T. Lehmann. (2016) Digital reconstruction of the inner ear of Leptictidium auderiense (Leptictida, Mammalia) reveals new insight into leptictidan locomotion. Paläontologische Zeitschrift 90(1): 153-171. DOI: (View from website)

Dunn, R.H., K.D. Rose, R.S. Rana, K. Kumar, A. Sahni, T. Smith. (2016) New euprimate postcrania from the early Eocene of Gujarat, India, and the strepsirrhine-haplorhine divergence. J. Human Evol. 99: 25-51. DOI: (view from website)

Professor Emeritus

Chris Ruff, PhD

Research focus:

  • Biomechanics and primate locomotion
  • Evolution of the hominoid postcranium
  • Skeletal growth and development
  • Skeletal remodeling, behavioral reconstruction

E-mail: [email protected]

Ruff, C. B., Sylvester, A. D., Rahmawati, N. T., Suriyanto, R., Storm, P., Aubert, M., Joannes-Boyau, R., Berghuis, H., Pop, E., Batenburg, K. J., Coban, S. B., Kostenko, A., Noerwidi, S., Renema, W., Adhityatama, S., & Joordens, J. C. (2022) Two Late Pleistocene human femora from Trinil, Indonesia: Implications for body size and behavior in Southeast Asia. J. Hum. Evol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103252

Ruff, C.B., Junno, J.-A., Burgess, M.L., Canington, S.L., Harper, C., Mudakikwa, A., and McFarlin, S.M. (2022) Body proportions and environmental adaptation in gorillas. Am. J. Biol. Anthropol. 177: 501-529. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24443

Ruff, C.B., Wunderlich,  R.E., Hatala, K.G., Tuttle, R.H., Hilton, C.E., D’Août , K., Webb, D.M., Hallgrímsson, B., Musiba, C., and Baksh, M. (2021) Body mass estimation from footprint size in hominins. J. Hum. Evol. 156: 102997. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102997

Professor Emeritus

David Weishampel, PhD

Research focus:

  • Dinosaur paleobiology
  • Late Cretaceous island biogeography
  • Coevolution of vertebrates and plants
  • History of paleontology and evolutionary biology

E-mail: [email protected]

Osi, A., Prondvai, E., Butler, R., and Weishampel, D. B. 2012. Phylogeny, histology and inferred body size evolution in a new rhabdodontid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Hungary. PLoS ONE 7(9): e44318. (view from PLoS ONE page).

Weishampel, D. B. and Jianu, C. M. 2013. Franz Baron Nopcsa: a man out of time. Foreword to Weishampel & Kerscher. Historical Biology 25(4): 391-544. (view from Taylor & Francis).

Weishampel, D. B. and Reif, W. E. 2013. An untimely nexus of German biomechanics, ornithology, and evolutionary biology: Dominik von Kripp and his functional morphology studies. Historical Biology 25(2): 261-281. (view from Taylor and Francis).

Joint & Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct Professor

Valerie B. DeLeon, PhD

Associate Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Florida

Research focus:

Functional and evolutionary morphology
Craniofacial growth, cleft lip & palate, sexual dimorphism
Normal and pathophysiology of feeding in infants
Coordination of respiration and swallowing in mammals
Impact of stroke and Parkinson’s disease on oral function

E-mail: [email protected]

Professor

Donna Magid, MD

Professor of Diagnostic Radiology in the Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science; Professor of Orthopedic Surgery; secondary appointment in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Research focus:

Radiology of the pelvis, acetabulum, lower extremity
Skeletal trauma, diabetic foot
Teaching/mentoring medical students and residents
Veterinary radiology

E-mail: [email protected]

Adjunct Professor

Rebecca Z. German, PhD

Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Northeast Ohio Medical University; secondary appointment as adjunct professor for the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Research focus:

Craniofacial development
Morphological integration
Fluctuating asymmetry as indication of developmental stability
Morphometric methods and software
Brain dysmorphology in autism and related disorders

E-mail: [email protected]