Pei-Chen Kuo (postdoctoral researcher, Field Museum)

My research interests mainly concern vertebrate macroevolution. I am interested in the topic of mass extinctions and investigating the extent to which distinctive anatomical and ecological characteristics may have impacted survivorship probabilities. For my PhD, I investigated the evolution of morphology in the avian feeding apparatus, employing geometric analyses to incorporate living and fossil birds into a single evolutionary framework. In my current works, I have focused on the study of morphology of Mesozoic avian groups in China and Cenozoic extinct bird clades from Green River Formation. Beyond my research interests, I love to play badminton and vide games with my friends.

Alexander D. Clark (PhD candidate, University of Chicago)

I am primarily interested in comparative and functional anatomy with a particular focus in both extant and extinct birds. I have worked as a wildlife biologist (6+ years of field work, and an MSc in wildlife biology) in a number of environments researching bird ecology and behavior, and hope to apply what I’ve learned in my paleontological work. I am really excited to try and figure out Mesozoic bird behaviors, diets, and ecologies using neontological comparative and functional anatomical approaches. My current studies focus on using osteological correlates of Mesozoic birds to piece together the ways they may have moved and flown. Additionally, I hope to look deeper into the preserved plumages of Mesozoic birds and assess what primary pressures resulted in such similar display structures as some birds today.

Isaiah McKinney (PhD student, University of Chicago)

Isaiah is a Ph.D. student exploring how avians radiate and diversify following the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs through various morphological characteristics across the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary, relying heavily on the Green River Formation avifauna.

Yosef Kiat (postdoctoral researcher)

I am primarily interested in comparative and functional anatomy with a particular focus in both extant and extinct birds. I have worked as a wildlife biologist (6+ years of field work, and an MSc in wildlife biology) in a number of environments researching bird ecology and behavior, and hope to apply what I’ve learned in my paleontological work. I am really excited to try and figure out Mesozoic bird behaviors, diets, and ecologies using neontological comparative and functional anatomical approaches. My current studies focus on using osteological correlates of Mesozoic birds to piece together the ways they may have moved and flown. Additionally, I hope to look deeper into the preserved plumages of Mesozoic birds and assess what primary pressures resulted in such similar display structures as some birds today.

Matteo Fabbri (postdoctoral researcher)

Matteo is an Evolutionary Biologist using an Evo-Devo approach to untangle the evolution of phenotypes among amniotes. While the study of the fossil record is fundamental to track the tempo and mode of morphological divergence in deep time leading to modern diversity, Matteo uses neontological data and developmental biology to infer mechanistic patterns driving phenotypical innovation.