me
research
My interests can be summarised in two words: sauropod systematics. I blame my undergraduate supervisor Paul Upchurch entirely for this. Although I was incredibly keen on studying dinosaurs I had no idea what I wanted to do with them. My MSci dissertation was on the anatomy and phylogeny of Cetiosauriscus stewarti, a partial skeleton of a sauropod dinosaur from the mid-Jurassic of the UK. The dinosaur had been discovered in 1898, and the first paper was written in 1905. The odd reference has been made to the specimen, but it has never been fully described, nor has it been subjected to a cladistic analysis. When Paul Upchurch and I write up this research we will aim to address these two omissions.
I enhanced my knowledge of phylogenetic techniques through a placement in Mark Wilkinson's laboratory as part of my MRes. There, I worked on supermatrices and supertrees, using sphenodontian phylogeny as a small but varied clade. My systematic interests do not extend only to cladistics. I worked with Paul Barrett on the completeness of the dinosaur fossil record. We have presented this research at the Geological Society of America and Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meetings.
However, my true passion is geometric morphometrics. I was taught everything I know about the technique by Norm McLeod and Rob McCarthy. I found that the technique worked well with hadrosaur skulls, and presented a very successful talk at the 2004 SVP meeting.
I aim to adapt the technique to the study of sauropod bones, specifically looking at the characters currently used in phylogenetic analyses. I can see numerous ways that the research can be carried forward into identification and ontogenetic studies, but for now I am content to look at continuous versus discontinuous variation in characters.
I am using this as the basis for my PhD thesis, which I have just started at Birkbeck, University of London, where I am being jointly supervised by Paul Upchurch and Charlie Underwood.
Palaeontological and Educational Experience
Oct 2007 - Present High Peak Radio
Fortnightly science correspondent "The Ethical Palaeontologist"
Mar 2004 - May 2004 St Louis Science Center
Volunteer preparator in fossil laboratory
Sep 2003 - May 2004 Academy of Science of St Louis
Participant in "Speakers for Schools" programme, visiting local K-12 schools
Oct 2002 - Aug 2003 Warnborough University
Part-time lecturer in Human Anatomy and Physiology for Diploma in Pre-Medical Studies
Aug 2002 - Aug 2002 Black Hills Institute of Geological Research
Field assistant for excavation of multi-species dinosaur trackway and Triceratops skeleton
Jul 2002 - Sep 2002 Mammoth Site of Hot Springs SD Inc.
Intern, giving tours of dig site, assisting with casting, preparation and curation in laboratory
Mar 2000 - Mar 2002 Time Truck
Assistant for Cambridge University National Science Week programme
Oct 1999 - Apr 2000 Sedgwick Museum of Geology
Voluntary museum assistant
Aug 1997 - Sep 1997 British Geological Survey
Research assistant in Regional Geophysics Group, digitising radiometric data
Education
Apr 2007 - Present Birkbeck, University of London
PhD in Earth Sciences
Aug 2003 - May 2004 Washington University in St Louis
Postgraduate study in Earth and Planetary Sciences (GPA 3.25 - Fall, GPA 3.44 - Spring)
Sep 2002 - Aug 2003 Imperial College, London and the NHM
MRes in Biosystematics (Pass)
Oct 1998 - Jun 2002 Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
MA in Natural Sciences (II.i) and MSci in Geological Sciences (Pass)
Sep 1996 - Jun 1998 Nottingham High School for Girls GDST
5 A-Levels (Biology B, Chemistry A, General Studies A, Mathematics A, Physics A)
Sep 1991 - Jun 1996 The National School, Hucknall
10 GCSEs (6 at grade A*, 3 at grade A, 1 at grade B)
Publications
2006 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3):74A
Heathcote, J. F. "Geometric morphometrics works on sauropods too! Cranial and vertebral landmark analyses of the Sauropodomorpha."
2005 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 25(3):68A
Heathcote, J. F., P. M. Barrett &M. A. Wills. "Stratigraphical congruence of the dinosaur fossil record."
2004 Geological Society of America Abstracts 36:A226-2
Heathcote, J. F. "Changing phylogenies through time: a review of the Sphenodontia with insights from supermatrices and supertrees."
2004 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24(3):69A
Heathcote, J. F. "Cranial variation in the Ornithopoda (Dinosauria): reconciling geometric morphometrics and phylogeny."
2003 Geological Society of America Abstracts 35:A204-10
Heathcote, J. F. & P. M. Barrett. "Estimating the completeness and congruence of the dinosaur fossil record: phylogenetic approaches."
2003 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 23(3):60A
Heathcote, J. F. & P. Upchurch. "The relationships of Cetiosauriscus stewarti (Dinosauria; Sauropoda): implications for sauropod phylogeny."
Media Coverage
2004 BBC News Online, Science/Nature
Many dino species "undiscovered"
2004 WUSTL News
Dinosaur fossil record compiled, analysed
Skills
Administrative Skills
Typing speed of 73 wpm with 100% accuracy, including audio typing and digital dictation programmes.
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook).
Graphic design (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and open-source).
Website design (Dreamweaver MX, HTML and open-source).
Operating systems (Windows, Mac OS, Linux).
Specialised Palaeontological Skills
Cladistics (PAUP*, MacClade, RadCon, Ghosts).
Morphometrics (TPS suite of programmes, EEA, DAISY).