Adam Laing
Major Advisors
Alan Turner
Education
MS, Paleontology | University of Pennslyvania, 2015
BA, Geological Sciences | University of Pennslyvania, 2014
Email
adam.laing@stonybrook.edu
Research Interests
I am interested in evolutionary and ecological trends in extinct archosaurs (the large group of reptiles that includes crocodylians, pterosaurs, and dinosaurs including birds). In particular, I am planning on studying the diversification of pseudosuchia (croc-line archosaurs) and how their radiation into highly varied niches and locomotor strategies is represented in their limb bone morphology.
I am also interested in other questions related to the ecology, metabolism and posture of extinct archosaurs of all kinds.
I conducted research for my Master’s degree that established a quantitative metric for distinguishing bipeds and quadrupeds based on the length and circumference of modern mammalian thigh and upper arm bones which may be applicable to the fossil record and may help to evaluate gait shifts in the fossil record.
I have participated in fieldwork in the Cretaceous of China (with Drs. Peter Dodson and Li Daqing), the Cretaceous of New Mexico (with Drs. Peter Dodson and Brandon Hedrick), the Jurassic of Utah (with Dr. Jim Kirkland), and the Eocene of Wyoming (with Dr. Lance Grande).
