I have a Bachelor of Arts in Biology (Honors) from Austin College, and a PhD from the University of Chicago, Department of Geophysical Sciences. I was a post-doctoral scholar at James Cook University's Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Department of Paleobiology before becoming an ARC Future Fellow at Macquarie University in the Department of Biological Sciences.

I use sedimentary records and the biological remains preserved in them to provide a historical context to modern marine ecosystems.  As a result I am interested in understanding the preservation biological remains in sedimentary records and the idiosyncrasies of palaeontological assemblages. I consider myself a conservation palaeobiologist, a taphonomist, and a malacologist. I think that the most interesting research questions are those requiring thinking outside the box and those that require a team of diverse backgrounds.

I like working with research students, not because I want help doing my research, but to encourage future scientists who share my research interests. I like to work with students with a clear passion and an interest in a particular topic to devleop and/or refine their approach. I have been the primary supervisor of 4 PhD students and 4 MRes students. I have contributed to the supervision of about a dozen PhD and MRes students.

I am currently the Director of the Graduate Diploma of Research program for the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and my teaching is focused in the Graduate Diploma of Research program. I am the convener FOSE7000 "Research Communications in Science and Engineering" and EESC1160 "Blue Planet".