Mark D. Uhen

I am a senior fellow in the Department of Paleobiology at the United States National Museum of Natural History. I received a B.S. degree in geology from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. in geology from the University of Michigan. My research focuses on the origin and evolution of cetaceans (whales and dolphins), major evolutionary transitions in general, functional morphology, use of stratigraphic data in phylogenetic analysis, and theoretical aspects of diversification. I am currently working on the origins of modern whales (Neoceti) from archaeocetes and the relationship of these evolutionary transitions to global climate change at the Eocene/Oligocene boundary.