Biographical Sketch:

Michael Novacek has served since 1982 as a Curator at the American Museum of Natural History. Since 1989 he has also served as Vice President and Dean of Science and, since 1995, as Senior Vice President and Provost of Science. Awarded a doctoral degree (with honors for outstanding graduate research) at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978, his studies concern paleontology and evolutionary and systematic biology. In the course of his investigations he has established an international field program as leader of expeditions to Baja California, Mexico, the Andes Mountains of Chile, the Yemen Arab Republic, and Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The Mongolian expeditions, which mark the first return of a western scientific team to the country in over sixty years, have recovered an extremely rich assemblage of dinosaurs, ancient mammals, and other fossil vertebrates. Novacek is the author of more than 140 titles, including articles in the international scientific journals Science and Nature. His research has been widely acknowledged by the scientific community, the popular press, and the media. He has also served as the President of the Society of Systematic Biologists and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Relevant Publications:

Novacek, M. J. 1996. Dinosaurs of the Flaming Cliffs. New York, London: Anchor Books, Doubleday.

Novacek, M. J. 1997. Mammalian evolution: an early record bristling with evidence. In Current Biology 7: R489-491.