Laurie C. Anderson
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803

Laurie Anderson did her undergraduate studies at the Univeristy of Minnesota, Morris studying music, biology, and eventually geology. She received a B.A. in 1985, and when on to earn a M.S. in Geology at Bowling Green State University (Ohio) in 1987. Her thesis research, under the direction of Don Steinker, was a paleoenvironmental study, using ostracodes, of the Pliocene Pinecrest sand of south Florida. Tired of microscope work, she decided to switch to macroinvertebrates, and moved on to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin with Dana Geary. However, lured by the promise of large sample sizes, she began work on corbulid bivalves, a large clade of rather small-bodied mollusks, and completed a Ph.D. in 1991. Upon graduation, she accepted a faculty position at Louisiana State University, where she currently serves as department chair. Her research interests include the evolutionary history, paleoecologic interactions (such as predation), and taphonomy of mollusks, especially the Bivalvia.