MICHELLE SPAULDING
Section of Mammals
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
5800 Baum Blvd.
Pittsburgh, PA 15206-3706
E-mail: spauldingm@carnegiemuseums.org
Education
2011
2009
2007
2004
Ph.D., Earth & Environmental Sciences (Vertebrate Paleontology), Columbia
University, New York
Thesis title: “Phylogeny and evolution of locomotor modes in
Carnivoramorpha (Mammalia).” PhD advisor: John J. Flynn
M. Phil., Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York
M.A., Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York
B.S., Double Major: Biology and Geology, University of California, Riverside, CA
Positions Held
2011-present NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, Sections of Mammals and Vertebrate Paleontology,
Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, PA. Postdoctoral supervisors: John
R. Wible and Zhe-Xi Luo
Awards and Fellowships
2009-2010
Columbia University Faculty Fellow
2009
Jackson School of Geosciences Student Member Travel Grant, Society of Vertebrate
Paleontology
2006-2009
National Science Foundation Graduate Student Research Fellowship
2005-2006
Columbia University Faculty Fellow
1999-2000
Chancellor’s Fellowship, University of California, Riverside
Peer Reviewed Publications
In press
 Spaulding, M., and Flynn, J.J. In review. Phylogeny of the Carnivoramorpha: The impact of
postcranial characters. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. Accepted May 2011.
2010
 Spaulding, M., Flynn, J.J., and Stucky, R.K. 2010. A new basal carnivoramorphan (Mammalia)
from the 'Bridger B' (Black's Fork member, Bridger Formation, Bridgerian Nalma, middle
Eocene) of Wyoming, USA. Palaeontology 53(4):815-832.
 Flynn, J.J., Finarelli, J.A., and Spaulding, M. 2010. Phylogeny of the Carnivora and
Carnivoramorpha, and the use of the fossil record to enhance understanding of evolutionary
transformations. In: A. Goswami and A. Friscia (eds.), Carnivoran Evolution: New Views on
Phylogeny, Form, and Function, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 25-63.
2009
 Spaulding M., O'Leary M.A., and Gatesy, J. 2009. Relationships of Cetacea (Artiodactyla)
among mammals: Increased taxon sampling alters interpretations of key fossils and
character evolution. PLoS ONE 4:e7062. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007062:1-14
 Spaulding, M., and Flynn, J.J. 2009. Anatomy of the postcranial skeleton of 'Miacis'
uintensis (Mammalia: Carnivoramorpha). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29:1212–1223.
 McGowen M.R., Spaulding, M., and Gatesy, J. 2009. Divergence date estimation and a
comprehensive molecular tree of extant cetaceans. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
53(3): 891-906
 Nesbitt, S.J., Turner, A.H., Spaulding M., Conrad, J.L., and Norell, M.A. 2009. The theropod
furcula. Journal of Morphology 270(7):856-879.
Published Abstracts
2010
 Spaulding, M. 2010. Phylogeny of the Carnivoramorpha, with implications for locomotor
reconstruction. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(3):168A-169A.
 Giallombardo, A., and AToL Mammal Morphology Team (including M. Spaulding). 2010.
Postcanine teeth homologies in Mammalia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 30(3):96A.
2009
 Spaulding, M. 2009. A new Viverravidae (Mammalia: Carnivoramorpha) from the early
Eocene of Wyoming Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 29(3):184A.
2008
 Spaulding, M., Flynn, J., and Grande, L. 2008. A new mammalian carnivore from the Green
River Formation, possibly possessing a prehensile tail. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
28(3):146A.
 Novacek, M., and AtoL Mammal Morphology Team (including M. Spaulding). 2008. A teambased approach yields a new matrix of 4,500 morphological characters for mammalian
phylogeny. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 28(3):121A.
 O’Leary, M., Spaulding, M., Parent, S., and Gatesy, J. 2008. Instability of pivotal fossil clades
in cetartiodactylan phylogeny and evolution of the ear region and ankle. Journal of Vertebrate
Paleontology 28(3):122A.
2007
 Spaulding, M. 2007. The impact of postcranial characters on reconstructing the phylogeny of
Carnivoramorpha. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3):151A.
 Flynn, J., Finarelli, J., and Spaulding, M. 2007. Phylogeny of the Carnivora and
Carnivoramorpha, and the use of the fossil record to enhance understanding of evolutionary
transformations. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 27(3):75A.
2006
 Spaulding, M. and Flynn, J. 2006. Postcranial anatomy of Early Cenozoic Carnivoramorpha
(“Miacoids”), and their use in resolving taxonomic and phylogenetic ambiguity. Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3):127A.
Invited Presentations
2011
 Sixth Triennial Conference on Secondary Adaptation of Tetrapods to Life in Water – Oral
Presentation
Spaulding, M. and O’Leary, M. A. 2011 MorphoBank: homology of phenotypes over the web –
a transformation in collaborative morphology based research.
 Carnegie Museum of Natural History – Vertebrate Paleontology Seminar March 2011 - Oral
Presentation
Spaulding, M. Phylogeny and evolution of locomotor modes in Carnivoramorpha.
Presentations
2010
 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual meeting 2010 – Oral Presentation: Romer Prize
Session: Phylogeny of the Carnivoramorpha, with implications for locomotor reconstruction
2009
 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual meeting 2009 – Oral Presentation:A new
Viverravidae (Mammalia: Carnivoramorpha) from the early Eocene of Wyoming
2008

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual meeting 2008 – Oral Presentation
A new mammalian carnivore from the Green River Formation, possibly possessing a
prehensile tail (M. Spaulding, J.J. Flynn and L. Grande).
2007
 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual meeting 2007 – Oral Presentation: The impact of
postcranial characters on reconstructing the phylogeny of Carnivoramorpha.
2006
 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Annual meeting 2006 – Poster Presentation: Postcranial
anatomy of Early Cenozoic Carnivoramorpha (“Miacoids”), and their use in resolving
taxonomic and phylogenetic ambiguity. (M. Spaulding and J.J. Flynn).
Field Work Experience
2008, 2009 Early Eocene, Bridger Basin, Wyoming. (with B. J. Shockey, Manhattan
College/American Museum of Natural History),
2006
Early Eocene and Late Paleocene, Big Horn Basin, Wyoming and Crazy Mountain
Basin, Montana (with J. I. Bloch, Florida Museum of Natural History),
Teaching Experience
Fall 2008
Teachers Assistant and lab coordinator Columbia University
Lecture and lab TA for Dinosaurs course for non-majors. Tasks were assisting
students in understanding the material, grading term papers, coordinating and
organizing one lab session per week, organizing review sessions for students, and
proctoring and grading the final exam.
Fall 2006
Lab instructor and coordinator, Columbia University
TA and Lab manager for Intro Geology Course for major and non-majors. Tasks
included assisting students with understanding lecture material, organizing and
running one lab session per week, and organizing review sessions for students.
2004-2005
Moreno Valley Unified School District Substitute Teacher K-12
Worked as an on-call substitute teacher in charge of class sizes up to 35.
2003-2005
Lab Assistant, University of California, Riverside
Assisted with research on molecular phylogenetic analysis of artiodactyls. Tasks
included PCR, DNA sequencing, etc. Additionally was responsible for the training of
several undergraduate students for these tasks.
Educational outreach
May-Dec 2010 Educator’s Guide- Hall of North American Mammals. Guide released 2011
Main scientific advisor and coordinator for this NSF funded project.
This guide is intended to easily allow teachers of grades 3-12 to use the carnivorans
in the Hall of North American Mammals at the American Museum of Natural History
as model organisms to teach to several critical teaching standards of New York State
schools. This guide gives a general tour of the hall for all age groups, focusing on ten
different species of carnivorans. Following the main tour the guide provides distinct
activities for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12.
Available at http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/rfl/pdf/HoNAM_EdGuide.pdf
2008 & 2009 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Student Forum Roundtable Topic Speaker: PhD
programs. Advised potential students on selecting a PhD program and provided
general information as to available programs.
2008-2009
Student mentor for Lodi High School (Lodi, California) senior project
Advised a high school senior on his senior project, “Cladistic methodology
demonstrated using the Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens)”. Mentoring was conducted over
e-mail and Skype for much of the school year, culminating in the student traveling to
the American Museum of Natural History for personal examination of specimens of
Ailurus (red panda) and other caniform carnivorans. Student submitted his final
research project as a report and poster presentation.
2007
Oral presentation for the New York Paleontological Society 2007 “The fossil history of
the Carnivora”
Invited presenter for this public society. http://www.nyps.org/
Ongoing Significant Collaborators
John J. Flynn (American Museum of Natural History), John R. Wible (Carnegie Museum of Natural
History), John A. Finarelli (University of Chicago), John Gatesy (University of California, Riverside),
Maureen A. O’Leary (Stonybrook University), Andrès Giallombardo (American Museum of Natural
History)
Assembling the Tree of Life : Mammalia – Involvement with this project dates to the first morphology
meeting in early 2007.
 Assisted with the formulation of all four character matrices, final matrix consisted of over
4,500 distinct morphological characters.
 Assistant Scribe of the Soft Tissue character partition.
 The only graduate student involved Long Term in the project in a central role.
 Scored wide variety mammalian taxa in all four character matrices. Two taxa scored fully, six
partially.
Professional Society Memberships
 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology
 Women in Science- American Museum of Natural History
o Student Representative on the steering committee (2009-2011)
Journal Associations
 Editorial Assistant for the Journal of Mammalian Evolution (2011 – present)
 Invited Reviewer for the following academic journals:
 Annals of Carnegie Museum
 Journal of Mammalian Evolution
 Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology
 Naturwissenschaften
 PLoS-ONE