Faculty
![IMG_6058(1)(1)](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG_605811-1.jpeg)
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.
![GSB](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GSB.jpg)
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
![10003443](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/10003443.jpg)
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
![ravosa](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/ravosa-2.jpg)
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.
![Sylvester_HeadShot](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Sylvester_HeadShot-scaled.jpg)
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
![KDR](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/KDR.jpg)
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)
![CBR](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CBR.jpg)
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
![DBW](https://fae.johnshopkins.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/DBW.jpg)
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
Assistant Professor
Justus Kebschull, PhD
Assistant Professor, department of biomedical engineering, johns hopkins University
Research focus:
Brain circuit evolution
Comparative connectomics & transcriptomics
Viral engineering
Neuro tool development
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]
associate Professor
Amanda Lauer, PhD
associate professor, department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery and neuroscience, johns hopkins university
Research focus:
Systems, cognitive and computational neuroscience
Neurobiology of disease
Neural circuits, ensembles and connectomes
E-mail: [email protected]
Assistant Professor
Ashley Kiemen, PhD
assistant professor, department of pathology, johns hopkins university
Research focus:
Microanatomy of pancreatic cancer
CODA: quantitative 3D reconstruction of large tissues
Spatial mapping
Image processing and deep learning algorithms
E-mail: [email protected]
Assistant Professor
Christopher Krupenye, PhD
assistant professor, department of psychological & brain sciences, johns hopkins university
Research focus:
Comparative cognition – especially theory of mind
Social and physical knowledge
Mental time travel-in humans, nonhuman apes, and dogs
E-mail: [email protected]
Associate Professor
Chen Li, PhD
associate professor, department of mechanical engineering, johns hopkins university
Research focus:
Terradynamics
LocomotionBiorobotics
Robophysics
Comparative biomechanics
E-mail: [email protected]