Eva Hoffman
Postdoctoral Fellow
Education
PhD, Richard Gilder Graduate School, American Museum of Natural History, 2024
MS, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, 2018
BA, Yale University, 2016
Links
Research:
Evolution of mammalian anatomy, especially the origin of mammalian, therian, and placental features.
Dr. Eva A. Hoffman is a vertebrate paleontologist whose primary research interest is in the origin and evolution of mammals, with a particular focus on anatomical features that relate to behavioral and physiological innovations. She uses computed tomography (CT) to visualize and study cranial, dental, and postcranial anatomy in representatives of mammalian and related species, with a goal of making phylogenetically informed inferences about the biology of extinct forms. She has used this approach to gain insight into the origin of mammalian reproduction using exceptionally preserved stem-mammal material and is currently investigating transformations in reproductive anatomy within mammals. She is also working on several projects concerning the evolution and development of anatomical novelty in the mammalian nervous system and skeleton.
At Stony Brook, Dr. Hoffman is engaged in research on exceptionally preserved fossil mammals from the Cretaceous and Paleogene of the Gobi Desert. CT scanning provides access to internal skeletal features in fragile, sometimes tiny specimens representing taxa that occupy key evolutionary positions just outside the modern marsupial and placental radiations. The anatomy of these specimens, when interpreted in an appropriate phylogenetic context, provides a window into the lives of therian mammals just before and just after the K–Pg mass extinction. Dr. Hoffman has contributed to work that has both elucidated the relationships of early therians and demonstrated a surprising degree of functional and ecological diversification on the placental stem prior to the “age of mammals.” Currently, she is pursuing a number of projects on cranial and postcranial anatomy in stem-placentals and stem-marsupials.
Dr. Hoffman is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation to Professor Maureen O'Leary.