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F.
Robin O'Keefe
Department of Biological Sciences
Marshall University
Huntington, West Virginia
USA
Robin O'Keefe is a professor of biology at Marshall
University, a primarily undergraduate institution in sylvan Huntington, WV.
Robin received his undergraduate degree at Stanford and his Ph.D. at the
University of Chicago. His main research is the influence of biotic and abiotic
factors influencing body shape in various organisms. His thesis research
concerned the Plesiosauria, a clade of extinct sauropterygian diapsids. Most of
his field work has concerned this clade, particularly the Sundance Plesiosaur
project. Field work in Niger in 2003 led to publications on captorhinid
postcranial anatomy and the ossification of the amniote astragalus. Current
research concerns the completion of publication of Sundance plesiosaur material,
inception of a new plesiosaur field program, and publication of research on
Pleistocene and recent canids. While disparate, this last research topic
reflects Robin's interest in shape change under the influence of external
forcing factors. Robin is also and active and committed undergraduate teacher in
accord with Marshall's mission; he is responsible for a large course in human
anatomy for pre-nursing students, and an upper-division class in comparative
vertebrate anatomy. |