Elisabeth S. Vrba is a professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University. Her research, which includes mammalian paleontology (especially Bovidae) and the study of evolutionary processes and theory, uses the basic information on groups of organisms (morphology, phylogeny, chronology, geographic distribution, paleoenvironmental context) to test hypotheses of how those species and their special characteristics evolved. Examples of recent research projects include systematics of African fossil bovids and investigations of questions such as the following: How do new species originate? How does new organismal form and function evolve? How do the evolutionary changes relate to climatic changes?