Roy E. Plotnick is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of Illinois at Chicago.   He is also a Research Associate at the Field Museum, and has held research and consulting positions at Argonne National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Chevron. 

His research interests are notably wide-ranging and eclectic.  They include arthropod paleobiology, paleobiomechanics, taphonomy, trace fossils, and landscape ecology.  His current research focus is on spatial analysis and modeling, in particular how concepts and methods derived from statistical physics (such as fractals and non-linear dynamics) and landscape ecology can be applied to geologic and paleobiological problems. Specific research projects include spatial statistics for data-model comparisons; spatially explicit ecological models; fractal and multifractal models of the fossil record; theoretical morphology,  simulations, and experimental production of trace fossils; and the nature of common taxa in the fossil record.  He is a participant in both the Paleobiology Database and CHRONOS.  He is also involved in projects designed to promote new approaches to science education at the K-12 and college levels.