Email:

simmonsSPAMFILTER@amnh.org

Phone:

212-769-5483

Fax:

212-769-5239

Curriculum Vitae (short version)

Education

• University of California, Berkeley, Ph.D., 1989
• University of California, Berkeley, Ph.C., 1985
• Pomona College, B.A., 1981

Research Interests

Dr. Simmons specializes in the morphology and evolutionary biology of bats (Chiroptera). She works with both living and fossil species, and is interested in patterns of species diversification, biogeography, the evolution of dietary habits, higher-level bat relationships, early Tertiary fossil bats, and the evolution of flight and echolocation.  A morphologist by training, she works with data gained from museum specimens and high-resolution CT scans, combining these with DNA sequence data generated by collaborators to build and test phylogenetic and evolutionary hypotheses.  She conducts fieldwork yearly in the Neotropics, and has lately been expanding her work into Southeast Asia.  Most recently she has been collaborating on detailed studies of noctilionoid bats (including the hyperdiverse Neotropical Phyllostomidae) and pteropodids (megabits or Old World Fruit bats).  She is also working on detailed studies of Eocene and Oligocene bats from around the world.

American Museum of Natural History Youth Science Program

Morpholution: An Authentic Youth Science Program

MorphoBank

Researchers Reconstruct the Common Ancestor of Placental Mammals

• Publications

  (Selected)

  G.F. Gunnell and N. B. Simmons (eds.). 2012. Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils,  Molecules, and Morphology. Cambridge University Press, 560 pp. 
  Nogueria, M. R., I. P. Lima, A. L. Peracchi, and N. B. Simmons. 2012. New genus and species of nectar-feeding bat from the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae: Glossophaginae). American Museum Novitates 3747: 1-30.
  Smith, T., N. B.Simmons, J. Habersetzer, and G. F. Gunnelll. 2012. Systematics and paleobiogeography of early bats. Pp. 23—66 in: G.F. Gunnell and N. B. Simmons (eds.), Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules, and Morphology. Cambridge University Press.
  Giannini, N. P., G. F. Gunnell, J. Habersetzer, and N. B. Simmons. 2012. Evolution of body size and related key characters in bats. Pp. 530—555 in: G.F. Gunnell and N. B. Simmons (eds.), Evolutionary History of Bats: Fossils, Molecules, and Morphology. Cambridge University Press.
  Simmons, N. B., K. L. Seymour, J. Habersetzer, and G. F. Gunnell. 2010. Inferring echolocation in ancient bats. Nature 466: E8.
  Lim, B., M. D. Engstrom, F. A. Reid, N. B. Simmons, R.S. Voss, and D. W. Fleck. 2010. A new species of Pteropteryx (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) from Western Amazonia with comments on phylogenetic relationships within the genus. American Museum Novitates 3686: 1-20.
  Almeida, F., N.P. Giannini, R. DeSalle, and N. B. Simmons. 2009 The phylogenetic relationships of cynopterine fruit bats (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae: Cynopterinae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 53: 772-783.
  Simmons, N. B., K. L. Seymour, J. Habersetzer, and G. F. Gunnell. 2008. Primitive Early Eocene bat from Wyoming and the evolution of flight and echolocation. Nature 451: 818-821.
  Giannini, N. P., and N. B. Simmons. 2007. The chiropteran premaxilla: a reanalysis of morphological variation and its phylogenetic interpretation. American Museum Novitates 3585: 1-44.
  Simmons, N. B. 2005. Order Chiroptera. Pp. 312-529 in: Mammal species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference, Third Edition, Volume 1 (D. E. Wilson and D. M Reeder, eds.). Johns Hopkins University Press.

• Teaching Experience

  Faculty Appointments

  • Adjunct Faculty, Graduate Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Columbia University, 1997-present
  • Adjunct Associate Professor, Ph.D. Program in Biology, CUNY Graduate School, 1993-present
  • Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Natural Sciences, Baruch College, CUNY, 1991-1993
  • Lecturer, Department of Biological Sciences, San Francisco State University, 1989
  • Instructor, Department of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley, 1987-1989
  • Lecturer, Department of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, 1988
  • Teaching Assistant and Associate, Department of Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, 1986-1987

  Courses Taught

  Graduate Advisees

  • Scott Carrdiff, Columbia University
  • Adrian Tejedor, CUNY
  • Valerie Tavares, CUNY
  • Liliana Davalos, Columbia University
  • Andrea Wetterer, Columbia University 

  Graduate Committees

  • Served on 12 committees since 1996, including the following:
    • Adrian Tejedor, CUNY (chair)
    • Valerie Tavares, CUNY (chair)
    • Kevin Olival, Columbia University
    • Cullen Geiselman, Columbia University
    • Karen Samonds, SUNY Stony Brook