Jere Lipps is Professor of Integrative
Biology at the University of California (Berkeley) and Curator of
Paleontology at the UC (Berkeley) Museum of Paleontology. Aside
from being past director of that Museum he is also a past
president of the Paleontological Society. His research concerns
the evolutionary biology and ecology of marine organisms,
protists in particular. This involves studies of modern species
and of particular problems in the fossil record. Presently, he is
participating in studies concerning the biology and molecular
phylogeny of coral reefs (Papua New Guinea, Enewetak Atoll,
French Polynesia) and California foraminifera with the aim of
better understanding the fossil record of these forms.
Paleobiologic projects include the evolution of the earliest
shelled protists in the Precambrian and Cambrian and the biologic
constraints on mass extinctions and radiations. These projects
are mostly field oriented utilizing SCUBA in the modern studies
and extended geologic work in the paleobiologic studies.