Current Members
|
Dr. Robert Reisz (principal investigator)
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: robert.reisz[at]utoronto.ca |
|
|
Diane Scott (fossil preparator / scientific illustrator)
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. Email: diane.scott[at]utoronto.ca |
|
|
Bryan Gee (Ph.D. candidate)
Bryan is a native Californian (B.A. from Pomona College) who made the accident of coming to Canada for his Ph.D., where he has so far survived 1.5 winters. He works mostly on the temnospondyls from Richards Spur for his dissertation but sometimes ventures over to other Paleozoic tetrapods in order to appease Robert for being the only non-coffee-drinker in maybe the entire history of the lab. In his "free time," Bryan usually works on a group of Mesozoic temnospondyls, the metoposaurids (seen on right), which have been independently certified by at least three experts to be his one true love. Email: bryan.gee[at]mail.utoronto.ca Personal website |
|
|
Kayla Bazzana (M.Sc. student )
Kayla got her honours B.Sc. at UBC's Okanagan campus, where she studied psychology and tried to figure out why really sick people get sad and make their spouses sad too. Eventually, she realized that this was exceptionally depressing and that studying old dead things was way more fun and totally not morbid or depressing at all. She will be starting her M.Sc. in the fall of 2018, working primarily on Paleozoic tetrapod braincases via the growing library of CT data that the lab has been building through our collaboration with ANSTO, assuming that she doesn't crack from all the caffeine consumption and spend the rest of her days talking to her cats. Email: kayla.bazzana[at]mail.utoronto.ca |
|
Patrick Lee (ROP student)
Patrick is a third-year student at UTM majoring in Paleontology, and minoring in Biology and Earth Sciences. From the tender age of two, he has been fascinated by ancient life and hopes to feed his hunger for fossils during the ROP. |
Sigi Maho (BIO481 student)
Sigi is in her third year of a HBSc at UTM studying Comparative Physiology. Having already graduated from OCAD University with Bachelor's in Design, she just couldn’t get enough of school and decided to move into biology. Although now pursuing her passion of studying animal anatomy and physiology, the animal she remains most passionate about is her puppy. She is excited to join the lab and looks forward to everything they will uncover. |
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: sanja.hinic.frlog[at]utoronto.ca |
|
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: michael.debraga[at]utoronto.ca |
|
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: d.mazierski[at]utoronto.ca |
|
Jun Chen (Jilin University)
Jun is Research Director at the Dinosaur Evolution Research Center at Jilin University in Changchun, China. His research is primarily centered around Cretaceous dinosaurs from northeastern China. |
|
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. |
Lab Alumni |
Prospective Students |
|
Interested in joining our lab? Robert is always looking for enthusiastic, driven students at all levels of secondary education. Even if you are unsure whether your interests align precisely with the focal areas listed on this website, Robert dabbles in virtually anything that sounds vaguely interesting to him, so don't hesitate to contact him (or anyone else in the lab)! Links to additional information on undergraduate research at UTM and graduate studies at UofT can be found here.
|
