I am a vertebratre paleontologist interested in the evolution of reptiles. More specifically, that of squamate reptiles (lizards, inclusive of snakes and amphisbaenians). This group of over 12,000 living species is the most diverse clade of modern amniotes, however the nature of their early evolution remains elusive. Additionally, while recent work has begun to provide clarity, there remains persistent disagreement between phylogenetic trees of squamtes produced by morphological and molecular data, at multiple scales. 

My research aims to tackle these problems by investigating the anatomy of fossils at the base of modern clades, that still retain predominantly plesiomorphic morphology, and that can help us to clarify the nature of character transformations that occurred during the evolution of key squamate groups. I also investigate undersampled regions of the anatomy of modern squmates to assess whether phylogenetic discordance may be due to a systematic oversampling of characters prone to converge to support the same functions.

Beyond lizards, my research extends to the investigation of the phylogeny of early reptiles, crocodilians, and theropod dinosaurs. 

I am currently a PhD candidate at Yale Univeristy, under Dr. Jacques Gauthier, and will be completing my degree in the spring of 2025. Feel free to reach out to me on my contact page!