Research
Most of my research relates to history of the Antarctic ice sheet and other studies of climate change through time. I use assemblages of fossil diatoms (microscopic siliceous algae) as tools for evaluating these changes. My students and I have worked with Ocean Drilling Program material, and we have sailed on ODP legs, including tropical, arctic, and antarctic cruises, but most of my work has been based on samples recovered by nearshore drilling in the Antarctic, including large multinational drilling projects such as the Cape Roberts Project and ANDRILL.
I also use diatoms as tracers of ice sheet processes, using the physical
properties of diatoms to help evaluate sediment mixing and subglacial shearing
in tills, especially in regard to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. In addition
to these projects I work on a variety of applications of diatom fossils
as Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironmental tracers in both marine and
non-marine settings, including several projects in the Midwest. I even find
myself working with dinosaurs these days, in association with the Burpee
Museum of Natural History, Rockford, IL. See
Jane, the juvenile Tyrannosaurid, which was the subject of a Discovery
Channel special. Help us build
Jane's permanent home.
NIU Biological Sciences Vertebrate Paleontology, Ecology, and Evolution program