AMNH Trilobite Research
| Melanie Jane Hopkins Division of Paleontology American Museum of Natural History Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY, 10024 USA +1 212 769 5558
|
|
Research Interests
Dr. Hopkins’s research focuses on the study of morphological evolution in the fossil record. She combines species-level phylogenetic analysis with high-resolution biostratigraphy in order to create frameworks for testing hypotheses about the role of geographic variation, ontogenetic variation, and modularity in the evolution of different clades. She also studies the interaction between different measures of diversity and the circumstances under which morphological, taxonomic, and functional diversity are decoupled. She has dabbled in global change biology and paleoecology and remains interested in niche evolution, particularly in its potential association with morphological evolution and speciation. Other recent projects demonstrated pervasive mosaic evolution throughout the fossil record, and explored how decisions made by scientists regarding what traits to measure influence the study of rates and modes of evolution.
Dr. Hopkins’s taxonomic interest lies with arthropods. Most of her research focuses on the paleobiology and early evolutionary history of trilobites, but she has also studied variation in extant fiddler crabs. Her research makes use of a variety of quantitative methods, most notably geometric morphometrics. Many projects are specimen based and rely on the extensive use of museum and new field collections. Other projects have made use of community databases, such as the Paleobiology Database. She is active in field work, particularly the Great Basin of the western U.S.
CURRENT POSITIONS
Chair, Division of Paleontology, AMNH
Curator-in-Charge, Fossil Invertebrates, Division of Paleontology, AMNH
Associate Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School, AMNH
Dissertation Sponsor, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University
Science Faculty, Masters in the Arts of Teaching Program, AMNH
PROFESSIONAL RECOGNITION
2021 Charles Schuchert Award, Paleontological Society
EDUCATION
2010 Ph.D., paleontology, Dept. of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago
Title of dissertation: “Intraspecific variation, its geographic structure, and the relationship between variation and duration, with examples from Cambrian trilobites and Recent fiddler crabs”. Advisor: Mark Webster
2002 B.Sci., geology, Dept. of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, CA
FULL PUBLICATION LIST:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melanie-Hopkins
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Dlcm6loAAAAJ
FUNDING HISTORY (last 10 years)
2019-2024 PI, “CAREER: A comparative study of two trilobite diversification events to advance understanding of early animal evolution”. National Science Foundation GEO/EAR/SGP Program
2019-2026 Co-PI, “Investigating teacher retention, persistence, and effective teaching in high-needs schools: and exploratory cross-program study”. National Science Foundation (Noyce program)
2019-2026 Co-PI, “Earth science teacher urban residency program: a partnership between a museum and secondary schools”. National Science Foundation (Noyce Program)
2017 Collaborator, Australian Research Council grant, “A new universal mechanism controlling body and appendage proportions in animals”.
2015 PI, “Diversification and evolution of Ordovician trilobites from unusually diverse offshore deposits in Spitsbergen, Svalbard”. Niarchos Foundation Expedition grant
2015 Collaborator, IMLS, “Curation and conservation of the Mapes collection at the American Museum of Natural History”
SELECTED PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
2021-present Editorial Board, Eastern Paleontologist
2019-present Advisory Board, Paleosynthesis Center, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
2018-present Associate Editor, Paleobiology
2018-present Executive Committee, MorphoBank
2017-present Managing Board, PCI Paleo
2016-present Executive Committee, Paleobiology Database
MENTORING
Postdoctoral
David Wright (2018-2020) Selina Cole (2018-2020) James Lamsdell (2016)
Graduate
As primary advisor: Mark Nikolic (PhD, expected 2025), Ernesto Vargas-Parra (PhD, expected 2023), Alexandra Buczek, (PhD, conferred 2020)
As committee member: Katherine Jordan (PhD, University of Nebraska Lincoln, expected 2024), Amelia Zietlow (PhD, AMNH, expected 2024), James Napoli, (PhD, AMNH, expected 2022), Tobit Liyandja, (PhD, AMNH, expected 2022), Johannes Neumann, (PhD, AMNH, expected 2022), Anna Holden (PhD, AMNH, graduated 2018), Danny Barta (PhD, AMNH, graduated 2018)
Undergraduate (often co-advised with colleagues!)
Sandy Cui (2021) Rebecca To (2020), Jonas Mondschein (2020), Esteban López Murillo (2019), Opal Perron-Feller (2018), Reid Alber (2018), Paige Funkhouser (2016-2017),Margaret Rubin (2016), Kelsey Barnhill (2016) J. Kirk Pearson (2015), Katharyn Padavano (2014), Katharine Thomas, (2014), Kelsey Hampton (2013), Amanda Brase (2013)
PRESENTATIONS
Invited academic seminar series at: University of Northern Iowa, Stony Brook University, Stanford University, Texas A&M, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Harvard University, Yale University, University of California Berkeley, University of Iowa, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Swarthmore College, Smithsonian, St. Lawrence University, University of Texas Austin, Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, University of Northern Iowa
Invited talks for broad audiences at: Rochester Academy of Science, New York Paleontological Society, Society for Ethical Culture, Folk Art Museum
Invited talks as part of academic thematic workshops: Biosphere 2 (Arizona), Royal Society (Milton Keyes, UK), Northwest University (Xi-an, China), Joint NSF- and NSFC-sponsored (Ghangzhou, China), Linnean Society of London, University of Michigan
Regular conference presentations, including invited keynotes at: Geological Society of American Annual Meeting, Palaeontological Association Annual Meeting, Paläontologische Gesellshaft Annual Meeting, North American Paleontological Congress Symposium, Crustacean Society Meeting, International Palaeontological Conference, International Conference on Trilobites and their Relatives, Society for the Study of Evolution Annual Meeting, Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology Annual Meeting
Online (AMNH):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLuSnrK-8I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IMk__N-O-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZuwOgcS1W0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x4xI9KupaY
FIELD WORK EXPERIENCE (last 20 years)
Western U.S. (Nevada, Idaho, Utah, California)
Eastern U.S. (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)
Anticosti Island (Quebec, Canada)
Spitsbergen (Svalbard)
Gotland (Sweden)
Alaska (Alaska Range, Talkeetna Mountains)