HESTEC 2008

The REU program will again be a major presence at HESTEC this year. Our REU students will have posters in the science symposium, and an REU visiting mentor will be a featured speaker at the science symposium.

I am excited to have Dr. Francois Therrien (pictured) as a guest to HESTEC and the REU program. Dr. Therrien is a dinosaur paleoecologist who works in the world-class Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada.

Dr. Therrien's visit coincides with the display of a cast of the T. rex skeleton, Sue. Dr. Therrien has actually studied and published work on T. rex -- check out the story, "T. rex - nothing to sniff at" on Quirks and Quarks (below). He's also done fascinating work on bite strength, described new fossil species, and more.

Dr. Therrien on the web

• Royal Tyrrell Museum staff page


• Interview on CBC radio's science show, Quirks and Quarks


• Representative publications
  
  
  
  • Ali F, Zelenitsky DK, Therrien F, Weishampel DB (2008) Homology of the "ethmoid complex" of tyrannosaurids and its implications for the reconstruction of the olfactory apparatus of non-avian theropods. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28:123-133
    
    DOI 10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[123:HOTECO]2.0.CO;2
  
  
  • Zelenitsky DK, Therrien F (2008) Phylogenetic analysis of reproductive traits of maniraptoran theropods and its implications for egg parataxonomy. Palaeontology 51:807-816 DOI 10.1111/j.1475-4983.2008.00770.x
  
  
  • Therrien F, Henderson DM (2007) My theropod is bigger than yours… or not: Estimating body size from skull length in theropods. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27:108-115
    
    DOI 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[108:MTIBTY]2.0.CO;2
  
  
  • Therrien F (2006) Depositional environments and fluvial system changes in the dinosaur-bearing Sânpetru Formation (Late Cretaceous, Romania): Post-orogenic sedimentation in an active extensional basin. Sedimentary Geology 192:183-205 DOI 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2006.04.002
  
  
  • Lipka TR, Therrien F, Weishampel DB, Jamniczky HA, Joyce WG, Colbert MW, Brinkman DB (2006) A new turtle from the Arundel clay facies (Potomac Formation, Early Cretaceous) of Maryland, U.S.A. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26:300-307
    
    DOI 10.1671/0272-4634(2006)26[300:ANTFTA]2.0.CO;2
  
  
  • Therrien F (2005) Feeding behaviour and bite force of sabretoothed predators. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 145:393-426
    
    DOI 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2005.00194.x
  
  
  • Therrien F (2005) Mandibular force profiles of extant carnivorans and implications for the feeding behaviour of extinct predators. Journal of Zoology 267:249-270
    
    DOI 10.1017/S0952836905007430
  
  
  • Therrien F (2005) Palaeoenvironments of the latest Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) dinosaurs of Romania: insights from fluvial deposits and paleosols of the Transylvanian and Hateg basins. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 218:15-56
    
    DOI 10.1016/j.palaeo.2004.12.005
  
  
  • Therrien F, Fastovsky DE (2000) Paleoenvironments of early theropods, Chinle formation (Late Triassic), Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona. Palaios 15:194-211
    
    DOI 10.1669/0883-1351(2000)015<0194:POETCF>2.0.CO;2
  
  

Dates to remember

• 8 September: Poster abstracts due


• 15 September: Posters due


• 22 September: Science symposium