Michael J. Novacek

Curator, Division of Paleontology

Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School

Email:
[email protected]
Phone:
212-769-5805
Download Curriculum Vitae

Education

  • University California, Berkeley, Ph.D., 1978 (Paleontology)
  • San Diego University, M.A., 1973  (Biology)
  • University of California, Los Angeles, A.B., 1971 (Zoology)

Research Interests

Dr. Michael Novacek’s studies concern patterns of evolution and relationships among extinct and extant organisms. His interests have ranged from the fossil record to new data on genome sequences. Dr. Novacek has led or participated in paleontological expeditions to Baja California, Mexico; the Andes Mountains of Chile, the Yemen Arab Republic; Argentina; Saharan Africa; Morocco; and the Gobi Desert of Mongolia in search of fossil dinosaurs and mammals. In 1993, he was one of the discoverers of the Gobi's Ukhaa Tolgod, one of the richest Cretaceous fossil vertebrate sites in the world. Dr. Novacek is the author of more than 200 titles, including articles in international scientific journals such as Science and Nature, as well as the popular books Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs (1996), Time Traveler (2002) (each a New York Times Notable Book), and Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem—and the Threats that Now Put It at Risk (2007). As former Provost he oversaw a staff of 200 scientists who have responsibility for one of the world’s largest natural history and cultural collections and he also had oversight of the Museum’s exhibition program. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Science. Dr. Novacek received Honorary Doctorates from Long Island University in 1996 and Beloit College in 2006. He received the Roy Chapman Andrews Society Distinguished Explorer’s Award for 2003, the Lowell Thomas Award from the Explorer’s Club in 2005, and the Kublai Khan Medal from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 2013.

Publications

  • 2025. Novacek, M. J., Wolfe, W., O’Leary, M.A., & Roberts. 2025. A new large zalambdalestid mammal from the Gobi Desert and formal stratigraphic description of the Upper Cretaceous Zos Formation. Cretaceous Research 179:106253 DOI: 10.1016/j.cretres.2025.106253
  • 2023. Novacek, M. J., Hoffman, E., & O’Leary, M.A. First occurrence of the eutherian mammal Asioryctes nemegtensis from the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Gobi Desert, Mongolia, and a revised alpha taxonomy based on the skull and dentition. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 42(4). DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2023.2196320
  • 2023. Johnson, K. R., I. F. P. Owens, and the Global Collections Group (incl. M. J. Novacek). A global approach for natural history museum collections. Science, Policy Forum, 379(6638);1192-1194.
  • 2023. Yo, K., Hoffman, E., O'Leary, M., & Novacek, M. J. A new Early Paleogene fossil mammal locality in the central-eastern Nemegt Basin, Gobi Desert, Mongolia, and notes on mammalian biostratigraphy. Journal of Paleontology, 1-24. doi:10.1017/jpa.2022.85
  • 2022. Velazco, P. M., Buczek, A.J., Hoffman, E., Hoffman, D.K., O’Leary, M.O., Novacek, M. J. Combined data analysis of fossil and living mammals: a Paleogene sister taxon of Placentalia and the antiquity of Marsupialia. Cladistics 38, 359-373.
  • 2013. O’Leary, M. A., J. I. Bloch, J. J. Flynn, T. J. Gaudin, A. Giallombardo, N. P. Giannini, S. L. Goldberg, B. P. Kraatz, Z-X. Luo, J. Meng, X. Ni, M. J. Novacek, F. A. Perini, Z. Randall, G. W. Rougier, E. J. Sargis, M. T. Silcox, N. B. Simmons, M. Spaulding, P. M. Velazco, M. Weksler, J. R. Wible, A. L. Cirranello. The placental mammal ancestor and the post-KPg radiation of placentals. Science 339:662-667.
  • 2008. Novacek, M. J., Engaging the public on biodiversity issues. Proc. National Acad. Sciences, USA 105: 11562-11578. (publ. Aug. 18, 2008).
  • 2007. Wible, J. R., G. W. Rougier, M. J. Novacek, and R. J. Asher. Cretaceous Eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near K/T boundary. Nature 447:1003 -1006.
  • 2005. Falkowski, P. G., M. E. Katz, A. J. Milligan, K. Fennel, B. S. Cramer, M. P. Aubry, R. A. Berner, M. J. Novacek, and W. M. Zapol. The rise of oxygen over the past 205 million years and the evolution of large placental mammals. Science 309:2202-2204.
  • 2005. Asher, R. J., Meng, J., J. R. Wible, M. C. McKenna, G. W. Rougier, D. Dashzeveg, and M. J. Novacek. Stem Lagomorpha and the antiquity of Glires. Science 307:1091-1094.
  • 2001. Novacek, M. J. and E. Cleland. The current biodiversity extinction event: scenarios for mitigation and recovery. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 98: 5466-5470.
  • 1999. Novacek, M. J. 100 million years of land vertebrate evolution: The Cretaceous-Early Tertiary Transition. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 86:230-258.

Teaching Experience

Faculty Appointments

  • Adjunct, Center for Environmental Research and Conservation, Columbia University, 1995-present
  • Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Biology, CUNY, 1987-present
  • Adjunct Professor, San Diego State University, 1982-present
  • Lecturer (1976-1977), Assistant (1977-1979), Associate (1979-1982) Professor, Department of Zoology, San Diego State University 

Graduate Advisees

  • Andres Giallombardo, Columbia University
  • Sheri Gabbert, University of Denver
  • Ines Horowitz, UCLA

Graduate Committees

  • Minjin Bolortsetseg, CUNY
  • Jason Mussel, Johns Hopkins
  • Paul Vrana, Columbia University
  • Andrew Wyss, Columbia University
  • Gina Gould, Columbia University
  • Alexandra Buczek, Richard Gilder Graduate School  (RGGS)
  • Eva Hoffman, Richard Gilder Graduate School  (RGGS)