Dr.Eric Gorscak, Ph.D.

My research is primarily focused on reconstructing evolutionary relationships and history of extinct animals in response to deep-time changes of Earth. My focal group is titanosaurian sauropods, the large dinosaurs with iconic long necks, as well as other extinct animals (e.g., theropod dinosaurs, sharks, turtles), through anatomical descriptions and morpholoigcal comparisons of new species and re-evaluation of old species. My research further utilizes current computational methods (e.g., CT-scanning, 3D models, Bayesian phylogenetics), fieldwork (e.g., USA, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya), and museum-based specimens study in order to test large-scale hypotheses concerning phylogenetic relationships, morphological trait evolution, and paleobiogeographic distributions through time.
Vertebrate Paleontology
Comparative Anatomy
Phylogenetics