Mark Patzkowsky - I oversee research in the lab, which generally involves staying out of everyone's way so that they can get their work done. I am interested in understanding the factors that control the distribution, abundance, and diversity of fossil organisms in time and space. I work over a range of spatial and temporal scales, which requires me to in to the field and to use global databases. Together with my students we have worked on marine ecosystems from the Ordovician to the Pleistocene. I teach multivariate methods in geosciences, field stratigraphy, and geobiology. I like to get students in the field; recent trips have gone to the Colorado Front Range, the Guadalupe Mountains West Texas, and in the near future to the Tobacco Root Mountains in Montana. I am also interested in finding new ways to communicate the excitement of Earth history and paleobiology to the public.
Max Christie - Max is a PhD student in his third year. He got his BS in Biology from William and Mary College and his MS in Geology from the University of Georgia.
Judi Sclafani - Judi is a PhD student in her first year. She got her BS in Geology from William and Mary College and her MS in Geology from the University of Georgia. She is interested in studying diversity patterns and community dynamics surrounding extinction events.
Curtis Congreve - Curtis is a new postdoc. He received his BS in Geology at the University of Rochester and recently finished his PhD at the University of Kansas. He is currently studying the phylogenetic and biogeographic patterns of brachiopods across the end Ordovician mass extinction event.