Research:

My research interests include lemur paleontology, island biogeography, trends in morphological evolution, and conservation biology specifically pertaining to the island of Madagascar. For my undergraduate honors thesis I discussed potential island dispersal mechanisms for the ancestor of Homo floresiensis based on models of lemur dispersal to Madagascar. My current Master's research focuses on understanding trends in body size within the vertebrate fauna of Madagascar through reconstruction of body masses for ancestral
species. I am also involved with Erik Patel's on-going field studies of silky sifakas (Propithecus candidus). The ultimate goal of my research is to better inform conservation efforts through an increased understanding of how environmental and anthropogenic pressures differentially affect lemur populations.