Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology (PhD) Option
Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology (PhD)
Career paths
Train to teach human anatomy at the university, college or professional level, and gain experience in vertebrate paleontology research under the guidance of a biomedical sciences graduate faculty mentor. Students in the Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology track can pursue a career teaching medical gross anatomy, development, histology and neuroanatomy.
Highlights
Nationally Recognized Research and Faculty
"Our North American and Oklahoma fossil record has a lot to offer the world in terms of our knowledge of these animals. Their evolutionary story is incredibly interesting to us."
Associate Professor of Anatomy
Paleontological research at the OSU Center for Health Sciences spans the Mississippian to the Recent, fossil bone microstructure to long-term patterns in paleobiodiversity and turtles to mice. Faculty research interests are currently concentrated in Mammalia and Archosauria.
Our vertebrate paleontology faculty members are actively building collections as a part of their research. Field work beyond basic techniques is not required for graduate projects, however Anatomy and Vertebrate Paleontology track students have the opportunity to pursue field projects. We do not maintain a research collection at OSU but work cooperatively with several institutions that do.
We have moved into expanded research labs, including space allowing comparative dissections, fossil preparation and recovery, paleohistology, and 3-D image processing.
Volunteer Program
We have an active vertebrate paleontology volunteer program that assists on research projects and provides opportunities for student and faculty outreach.
Volunteers assist paleontology faculty, staff and graduate students on paleontological research projects. Volunteers are essential in helping us collect the data we need to answer questions about Earth’s ancient past.
Vertebrate paleontology volunteers are currently collecting data to help address scientific questions about ancient ecosystem compositions, ecosystem response to climate change, effective sampling techniques and geographic distributions of extinct species.