CURRENT MEMBERS
Principal Investigator
Dr. Robert Reisz
Robert's two true callings are vertebrate paleontology and fine coffee. The former began when he completed all three of his degrees at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Robert Carroll, and the second is the result of his globetrotting in pursuit of early tetrapod fossils. Robert has been a professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga since 1975 (!), where he has since supervised over 20 graduate students. When not looking at fossils with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in hand, Robert also teaches two courses at UTM: BIO354 (Vertebrate Form and Function) and BIO356 (Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ReiszRobert // ResearchGate // Google Scholar
Robert's two true callings are vertebrate paleontology and fine coffee. The former began when he completed all three of his degrees at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Robert Carroll, and the second is the result of his globetrotting in pursuit of early tetrapod fossils. Robert has been a professor at the University of Toronto Mississauga since 1975 (!), where he has since supervised over 20 graduate students. When not looking at fossils with a cup of freshly brewed coffee in hand, Robert also teaches two courses at UTM: BIO354 (Vertebrate Form and Function) and BIO356 (Major Features of Vertebrate Evolution).
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ReiszRobert // ResearchGate // Google Scholar
Graduate Students
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Tea Maho (Ph.D student)
Tea's passion for the ancient world and evolution began at a young age, as some of her favorite movies were Jurassic World and Indiana Jones. Tea completed her HBSc at UTM studying Comparative Physiology and MSc at Reisz Lab examining the dental development and replacement rate of early Permian vertebrates, including synapsids and the stem amniote Seymouria. Although she studies early vertebrates and synapsids, her favourite vertebrates will always her two small dogs, Daisy and Grizzly. Her research mostly incorporates, histology, computed tomography (CT scans), and scientific illustrations. Email: [email protected] Research Gate |
Dylan Rowe (Ph.D student)
Dylan has always been passionate about palaeontology and nature for as long as he can remember. One of the many examples of his obsession is when his first-grade class was asked to spell words starting with the letter P ... his problematic response was "pterodactyl". Dylan lives near an Ordovician cliff and has been dragging home fossils for interior display for most of this life, much to his parent's chagrin. Working in Dr. Reisz's lab, and meeting other palaeontology enthusiasts, is something that Dylan knows is an incredible opportunity and he is looking forward to this year's experience immensely. Email: [email protected] Research Gate |
Ethan Mooney (M.Sc. Student)
Ethan has been passionate about natural history and evolution ever since he can remember. He has spent many vacations exploring and rarely lifting his eyes from the ground in search of remains from a forgotten past. Currently, Ethan mainly works with cranial CT data from a variety of early Permian tetrapods to produce 3D renderings as visual reconstructions for description and analysis. His diverse interests and aptitude for learning involve him in a wide range of projects and experiences throughout the lab. Email: [email protected] Research Gate |
Undergraduate Students
Adrian Osterling Arias (BIO481 student)
Adrian's passion for paleontology began the same way it did for most kids at a young age. Unfortunately for his family, this involved complying to a child's wishes of watching the Jurassic Park movies as many times as they could every single day. Working in Dr. Reisz lab has been a very exciting opportunity for Adrian, as he is currently working on an ROP involving the 3D segmentation of an early Permian Trematopid skull. He is very eager to see what else is in store for the remainder of the year and learn as much as he can from his peers. Email: [email protected] |
Brianna Acebedo (BIO481 student)
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Lucas Perreault (BIO481 student)
Lucas first found his passion for paleontology in movies and TV shows at a young age. Jurassic Park and Prehistoric Planet inspired him to search for fossils on family camping trips around Ontario. Lucas finds the work in Dr. Reisz's lab, as well as meeting paleontologists from around Ontario, gratifying. He is currently working on segmenting a Permian chaptorhinid skull to create a 3D rendering of each bone. Learning about skills and techniques involved in modern paleontology has been very interesting to Lucas, and he is excited to continue learning in the lab. |
Jordan Young (ROP student)
Having eleven favourite dinosaurs and learning what a paleontologist was growing up, Jordan has always wanted to pursue a career relating to studying prehistoric life. He would especially express his passion through drawings and illustrations. Now working in Dr. Reisz's lab his focus is on illustrating and interpreting fossil fragments of a scavenged diadectid. Excited to learn new techniques and build upon his current skills Jordan’s ready for what the year entails. |
Mitchell Hall (ROP student)
Mitchell's passion for paleontology began very early, somewhere between first seeing Jurassic Park and learning to read from an old dinosaur encyclopedia. Ever since that moment he's been dead-set on becoming a paleontologist. After years of hard work, he's incredibly eager to have finally got his foot in the door and started working here at Dr.Reisz's lab. Currently working on 3D segmentation of a Permian captorhinid skull whilst learning the skills & software of segmentation along the way |
ASSOCIATED MEMBERS
Sanja Hinic-Frlog (UTM)
Sanja received her M.Sc. from UofT under the supervision of Hans-Dieter Sues (then at the ROM) on the cranial osteology of the sauropodomorph Massospondylus, followed by her Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis, before returning to teach at UTM in the Biology department. Her research focuses on functional morphology and locomotion in birds, as well as pedagogical aspects of science education. Email: [email protected] |
Michael deBraga (UTM)
A former Ph.D. graduate of the lab, Michael currently works in the Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre (RGASC) at UTM where he is involved with pedagogical skills and curriculum development in STEM disciplines. He is in the process of writing an updated textbook on vertebrate paleontology for university-level courses and maintains active research interests in the morphology and systematics of early Permian reptiles. Email: [email protected] |
David Mazierski (UTM)
A former M.Sc. graduate of the lab, Dave currently teaches in Biomedical Communications (BMC) at UTM and often involves his students with paleontology projects in our lab. He maintains active research interests in the morphology and systematics of Permo-Carboniferous synapsids. Email: [email protected] |
Timothy Huang (Jilin University)
Timothy is a Tang AoQing Chair Professor at Jilin University. His research is primarily centered around dinosaur embryology and the use of cutting-edge technologies such as neutron tomography, laser mass spectroscopy, and fluorescence imaging to study aspects of fossils. |
Diane Scott
Diane graduated from UTM back in 1980 when it was still Erindale College, during which she became involved with Robert's lab, where she has remained since, providing high quality preparation, illustration, photography, and instruction on all of the above to students. Having worked with Robert for a long time, Diane helps to mitigate his tendency to move fossils around the lab without telling anyone else and helps keep the students in line while Robert's halfway across the world. She is also the primary caretaker for the diversity of lab pets that have kept the overworked grad students company and currently maintains a large guppy colony.
ResearchGate
Diane graduated from UTM back in 1980 when it was still Erindale College, during which she became involved with Robert's lab, where she has remained since, providing high quality preparation, illustration, photography, and instruction on all of the above to students. Having worked with Robert for a long time, Diane helps to mitigate his tendency to move fossils around the lab without telling anyone else and helps keep the students in line while Robert's halfway across the world. She is also the primary caretaker for the diversity of lab pets that have kept the overworked grad students company and currently maintains a large guppy colony.
ResearchGate