Roger D ThomasJohn W. Nevin Memorial Emeritus Professor of Geosciences
About Roger Thomas
Roger D. K. Thomas
John Williamson Nevin Memorial Professor of Geosciences, Emeritus
Office: Hackman Physical Sciences, K-12
Telephone: (717) 358-4135 Fax: (717) 358-4186 Cell: (717) 847-3698
Originally trained in geology and invertebrate palaeontology, I have broad interests
in paleobiology, evolutionary biology, and the history of geology. Over 41 years,
I taught 10 different courses at 顶级国产视频 & Marshall College, which I served as Associate
Dean for Academic Affairs, 1987-91. Current projects include research on:
(1) the fauna and depositional environment of the Kinzers Formation (Lower Cambrian) of south-central Pennsylvania, including a recently published paper on the discovery of chaetae (typically an annelid-brachiopod character) in one of the earliest gastropods; work on a new species elucidating the range of feeding adaptations of radiodontid relatives of the arthropod predator, Anomalocaris; also work on early arthropod Odaraia.
(2) polymorphism of shells of the Pliocene bivalved mollusc Glycymeris americana, inferred to reflect the influence of transposable gene elements on shell formation.
(3) revision of a long-ago-written essay on the writings of Charles Darwin, Herman Melville and Kurt Vonnegut based on their observations in the Gal谩pagos.
(4) writing of a fuller scholarly account of my assessment of our understanding of the influence of Leibniz, not Newton, reflected in James Hutton鈥檚 view of time.
Honors:
Best Paper Prize 2020, awarded by the Editorial Board of Palaeontology
John and Mary Lou Pojeta Award, the Paleontological Society, 2019 (professional service)
Elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2017
Elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America, 2011
Distinguished Service Award, the Paleontological Society, 2011
Centennial Fellow of the Paleontological Society, 2007
Named "Most Influential Professor in the Natural Sciences鈥 by the F&M Class of 2003
Recipient of the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundations Award for Distinguished Teaching, 顶级国产视频 & Marshall, 1982
Education:
Ph.D. Geological Sciences, Harvard University, 1971
M.A. Geological Sciences, Harvard University, 1965
B.Sc., A.R.C.S. Geology, Imperial College, University of London, 1963
Selected publications:
2023 (RDKT and Elizabeth Driscoll) Chickies Rock, a striking promontory on the Susquehanna River: the early Cambrian type locality of the trace fossil Skolithos and a model site for structural analysis .Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v. 543, (book in press)
2022 James Hutton鈥檚 concept of time: that of Leibniz, not Newton. Geology Today 38(3): 108-111.
2021 Documentation by Citizen Scientists / Naturalists of the 鈥楥ambrian Explosion鈥 in Pennsylvania. Geology Today 37(2): 56-61.
2020 RDKT, B. Runnegar and K. Matt) Pelagiella exigua, an early Cambrian stem gastropod with chaetae: lophotrochozoan heritage and conchiferan novelty. Palaeontology 63: 601-627.
2018 (Dirk Knaust, RDKT and H. Allen Curran) Skolithos linearis Haldeman, 1840 at its early Cambrian type locality, Chickies Rock, Pennsylvania: Analysis and designation of a neotype. Earth-Science Reviews 185: 15-31.
2013 (RDKT, R. R. Schoch and D. B. Weishampel, eds.) Analysis and Synthesis: Studies in Paleobiology, Evolution and the History of Science in Honour of Wolf-Ernst Reif, 1945-2009. Historical Biology 25 (2, Special Issue): 125-311.
2012 Arch and beam: deployment of microstructural fabrics in relation to loads exerted on the shells of bivalved molluscs in different functional regimes. Historical Biology, on-line: Historical Biology 25: 193-199. (2013)
2012 (A. Seilacher and RDKT) Self-organization and emergent individuality of favositid corals adapted to live on soft substrates. Lethaia 45: 2-13.
2009 Gould鈥檚 Odyssey: Form may follow function, or former function, and all species are equal (especially bacteria), but history is trumps. In: W. D. Allmon, P. H. Kelley and R. M. Ross, Stephen Jay Gould: Reflections on His View of Life, p. 271-289. Oxford University Press.
2005 Hierarchical integration of modular structures in the evolution of animal skeletons. In: W. Callebaut and D. Rasskin-Gutman (eds.) Modularity: Understanding the Development and Evolution of Natural Complex Systems, 239-258. Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press.
2002 (A. Madzvamuse, RDKT, P. K. Maini and A. J. Wathen) A numerical approach to the study of spatial pattern formation in the ligaments of arcoid bivalves. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 64: 501鈥530.
2000 (RDKT, A. Madzvamuse, P. K. Maini and A. J. Wathen) Growth patterns of noetiid ligaments: Implications of developmental models for the origin of an evolutionary novelty among arcoid bivalves. In: E. M. Harper, J. D. Taylor and J. A. Crame (eds.), The Evolutionary Biology of the Bivalvia. Geological Society of London, Special Publications 177: 279-289.
2000 (RDKT, R. M. Shearman and G. W. Stewart) Evolutionary exploitation of design options by the first animals with hard skeletons. Science 288: 1239鈥1242.
1993 (RDKT and W.-E. Reif) The skeleton space: a finite set of organic designs. Evolution 47: 341鈥360.
1988 Evolutionary convergence of bivalved shells: a comparative analysis of constructional constraints on their morphology. American Zoologist 28: 267鈥276.
1986 Taphonomy: ecology's loss is sedimentology's gain. Palaios 1 (3): 206. Introduction to theme issue, pp. 206鈥338, edited by R. D. K. Thomas.
1985 (W.-E. Reif, RDKT and M. S. Fischer) Constructional morphology: the analysis of constraints in evolution. Acta Biotheoretica 34: 233鈥248.
1979 (RDKT and E. C. Olson, eds.) A Cold Look at the Warm-blooded Dinosaurs. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Selected Symposium 28, 517 pp. Introduction by E. C. Olson and R. D. K. Thomas, pp. 1鈥14. Westview Press; Boulder, Colorado.
1979 Constructional morphology. In: R. W. Fairbridge and D. Jablonski, eds., The Encyclopedia of Paleontology, pp. 482鈥487. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross; Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania.
1978 Limits to opportunism in the evolution of the Arcoida (Bivalvia). Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London B 284: 335鈥344.
1978 Shell form, adaptive strategy and the ecological range of living and extinct Arcoida. Paleobiology 4: 181鈥194.
1976 Gastropod predation on sympatric Neogene species of Glycymeris (Bivalvia) from the eastern United States. Journal of Paleontology 50: 488鈥499.
1976 Constraints of ligament growth, form and function on evolution in the Arcoida (Mollusca: Bivalvia). Paleobiology 2: 64鈥83.
1975 Functional morphology, ecology and evolutionary conservatism in the Glycymerididae (Bivalvia). Palaeontology 18: 217鈥254.
1974 Instructor's Guide to accompany Earth, by Frank Press and Raymond Siever. H. Freeman, 170 pp.