Speaker: Alan Titus, U.S. Bureau of Land Management
Title: In the Land of Rainbows and Unicorns: Forensic Science of a 76.4 million-year-old Tyrannosaur Mass Mortality
Abstract: Dr. Titus will discuss the investigation at the scene of the only known mass death of tyrannosaur dinosaurs in the southern U.S. Using standard geological methods combined with state-of-the-art mass-spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, the secrets of this 76.4 million-year-old mystery begin to be revealed, possibly pointing to more complex social behavior among southern tyrannosaurs than previously thought.
Bio: Dr. Alan Titus works for the Bureau of Land Management as the Paria District Paleontologist, coordinating and engaging in the ground breaking research taking place in the Late Cretaceous of southern Utah. He is the former Monument Paleontologist for Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a position he held for 19 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in geology from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (1990), an MSc from the University of Arkansas (1992), and his PhD from Washington State University (1996). His research interests include Paleozoic and Mesozoic ammonite taxonomy and biostratigraphy, paleomagnetic stratigraphy, Cretaceous marine reptiles, and tyrannosaur systematics and paleobiology. In his off time, Dr. Titus enjoys hiking, cycling, playing guitar in his classic rock cover band (named Mesozoic of course!), and daydreaming what it would have been like to live in the Cretaceous.
For more information about this seminar and about joining in online, please contact Doris Switzer at dswitzer@gc.cuny.edu