Summer Science Program Presents Christian Sidor
What: As part of Trinity’s Summer Science Program, Christian Sidor ’94, will deliver a speech entitled, “Fossil Hunting from Equator to Pole.”
When: Tuesday, June 9 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Where: The Life Science Center Auditorium on the Trinity campus, 300 Summit Street.
Background: Sidor is associate professor of biology and curator of the Burke Museum of Natural History at the University of Washington.
Sidor graduated from Trinity in 1994 with a B.S. in biology. He also holds a master’s of science degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the national Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, and also taught at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine.
His research on vertebrate paleontology and evolution has largely focused on the Permian and Triassic periods in the history of the planet. His work has involved looking at the anatomy, systematics, and biogeography of Permian and Triassic vertebrates to help interpret large-scale evolutionary patterns in the fossil record.
In his description of his research, Sidor says his inter-disciplinary work investigates the relationship between climate and vertebrate evolution from near the center of Pangea during the Late Permian (about 255 million years ago), a time and place for which little data exist.
He seeks to answer these questions: In what sequence were mammalian features evolved? And what was the rate at which these characters were acquired?
Moreover, he says, “Antarctica was not always the icy, lifeless continent that it is today. Along with several collaborations, my work focuses on the Permo-Triassic transition, using body and trace fossils to help understand its climatic and paleobiological history.”
For more information, please contact the Inter Science Center at 860-297-4008 or Kathy.mallinson@trincoll.edu.