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Paul Sereno

Professor
dinosaur@uchicago.edu
Research Summary
“I see paleontology as adventure with a purpose. How else to describe a science that allows you to romp in remote corners of the globe, resurrecting gargantuan creatures that have never been seen? And the trick to big fossil finds? You’ve got to be able to go where no one has gone before.” -- Paul Sereno, Ph.D., Paleontologist, University of Chicago Paul Sereno, a professor at the University of Chicago and Explorer-in-Residence at the National Geographic Society, works with students, technicians and artists in his Fossil Lab to bring to life fossils unearthed from sites around the world. Sereno’s field work began in the foothills of the Andes in Argentina, where he discovered the first dinosaurs to roam the Earth some 230 million years ago. Other expeditions have explored Africa’s Sahara, Asia’s Gobi Desert, India’s Thar Desert, and remote valleys in Tibet. He also works every year closer to home excavating his own "Jurassic Park," a dinosaur graveyard in Wyoming's Bighorn Mountains. With a menagerie of spectacular dinosaurs to his credit, he also is known for discovering a series of extinct crocdilians, including the 40-foot long dinosaur-eater dubbed "SuperCroc." Sereno’s latest discovery, a human burial site in the Sahara predating the Egyptian pyramids, provides a snapshot of life in a once “green” Sahara. Featured in National Geographic magazine and many documentaries, Paul was named Teacher of the Year (1993) by the Chicago Tribune and was awarded the University Medal for Excellence from Columbia University (1999). He co-founded Project Exploration, a novel science organization that recruits future scientists among urban youth. That effort earned the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring from the White House (2009).
Biosciences Graduate Program Association
Publications

  1. Spinosaurus is not an aquatic dinosaur. Elife. 2022 11 30; 11. View in: PubMed

  2. Logical basis for morphological characters in phylogenetics. Cladistics. 2007 Dec; 23(6):565-587. View in: PubMed

  3. Comparative cladistics. Cladistics. 2009 Dec; 25(6):624-659. View in: PubMed

  4. Wing Shape in Waterbirds: Morphometric Patterns Associated with Behavior, Habitat, Migration, and Phylogenetic Convergence. Integr Org Biol. 2021; 3(1):obab011. View in: PubMed

  5. Geology and paleontology of the Upper Cretaceous Kem Kem Group of eastern Morocco. Zookeys. 2020; 928:1-216. View in: PubMed

  6. Dental microwear texture analysis of Homo sapiens sapiens: Foragers, farmers, and pastoralists. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2019 06; 169(2):207-226. View in: PubMed

  7. Laser-stimulated fluorescence in paleontology. PLoS One. 2015; 10(5):e0125923. View in: PubMed

  8. Semiaquatic adaptations in a giant predatory dinosaur. Science. 2014 Sep 26; 345(6204):1613-6. View in: PubMed

  9. Unification of multi-species vertebrate anatomy ontologies for comparative biology in Uberon. J Biomed Semantics. 2014; 5:21. View in: PubMed

  10. Dinosaur footprints and other ichnofauna from the cretaceous Kem Kem beds of Morocco. PLoS One. 2014; 9(6):e90751. View in: PubMed

  11. The vertebrate taxonomy ontology: a framework for reasoning across model organism and species phenotypes. J Biomed Semantics. 2013 Nov 22; 4(1):34. View in: PubMed

  12. Corrigenda: Sereno PC (2012) Taxonomy, morphology, masticatory function and phylogeny of heterodontosaurid dinosaurs. ZooKeys 226: 1-225. Zookeys. 2012; (227):101. View in: PubMed

  13. Taxonomy, morphology, masticatory function and phylogeny of heterodontosaurid dinosaurs. Zookeys. 2012; (226):1-225. View in: PubMed

  14. Dinosaur death trap. Sci Am. 2011 Mar; 304(3):70-5. View in: PubMed

  15. A basal dinosaur from the dawn of the dinosaur era in southwestern Pangaea. Science. 2011 Jan 14; 331(6014):206-10. View in: PubMed

  16. Tyrannosaurid skeletal design first evolved at small body size. Science. 2009 Oct 16; 326(5951):418-22. View in: PubMed

  17. A new psittacosaur from Inner Mongolia and the parrot-like structure and function of the psittacosaur skull. Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Jan 22; 277(1679):199-209. View in: PubMed

  18. Evidence for avian intrathoracic air sacs in a new predatory dinosaur from Argentina. PLoS One. 2008 Sep 30; 3(9):e3303. View in: PubMed

  19. Lakeside cemeteries in the Sahara: 5000 years of holocene population and environmental change. PLoS One. 2008 Aug 14; 3(8):e2995. View in: PubMed

  20. Structural extremes in a cretaceous dinosaur. PLoS One. 2007 Nov 21; 2(11):e1230. View in: PubMed

  21. The complete skull and skeleton of an early dinosaur. Science. 1992 Nov 13; 258(5085):1137-40. View in: PubMed

  22. Response. Science. 1995 Mar 24; 267(5205):1752-3. View in: PubMed

  23. Early cretaceous dinosaurs from the sahara. Science. 1994 Oct 14; 266(5183):267-71. View in: PubMed

  24. Early evolution of avian flight and perching: new evidence from the lower cretaceous of china. Science. 1992 Feb 14; 255(5046):845-8. View in: PubMed

  25. The Ischigualasto Tetrapod Assemblage (Late Triassic, Argentina) and 40Ar/39Ar Dating of Dinosaur Origins. Science. 1993 May 07; 260(5109):794-7. View in: PubMed

  26. The logical basis of phylogenetic taxonomy. Syst Biol. 2005 Aug; 54(4):595-619. View in: PubMed

  27. Permian tetrapods from the Sahara show climate-controlled endemism in Pangaea. Nature. 2005 Apr 14; 434(7035):886-9. View in: PubMed

  28. New dinosaurs link southern landmasses in the Mid-Cretaceous. Proc Biol Sci. 2004 Jul 07; 271(1546):1325-30. View in: PubMed

  29. Definitions in phylogenetic taxonomy: critique and rationale. Syst Biol. 1999 Jun; 48(2):329-51. View in: PubMed

  30. The giant crocodyliform Sarcosuchus from the Cretaceous of Africa. Science. 2001 Nov 16; 294(5546):1516-9. View in: PubMed

  31. Dinosaur with a heart of stone. Science. 2001 Feb 02; 291(5505):783. View in: PubMed

  32. The evolution of dinosaurs. Science. 1999 Jun 25; 284(5423):2137-47. View in: PubMed
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