我们旨在了解脊椎动物生物多样性的过去和现在的模式，调查影响脊椎动物进化的因素，探讨有关物种灭绝和起源，解剖结构变化，功能与发展，生物地理学和生态学的问题。化石脊椎动物的惊人记录是这项研究的核心，我们的主要数据来自正在进行的野外调查以及对现有馆藏的创新使用。古生物学必不可少，除了与地球科学的广泛认可的联系外，我们还采用分子系统学，发育生物学，生物力学，生物地理学和理论生态学等领域的数据和前沿技术。
We aim to understand past and present patterns of vertebrate biodiversity, to investigate factors that have shaped vertebrate evolution, to explore questions about extinctions and origins, changes in anatomy, function and development, biogeography and ecology. The astonishing record of fossil vertebrates is central to this research, and our primary data emerge from ongoing fieldwork as well as innovative use of existing collections. Of necessity, paleontology is interdisciplinary, and, in addition to widely recognized links with earth sciences, we also employ data and cutting-edge techniques from areas such as molecular systematics, developmental biology, biomechanics, biogeography, and theoretical ecology.<br>Current areas of research<br>The origin of major vertebrate clades: reconstructing evolutionary branching events underpinning the modern vertebrate biota, exploring patterns of anatomical, functional and ecological change.<br>The origins of morphological novelty: synthesizing paleontological and developmental perspectives.<br>The phylogeny and biogeography of major dinosaur clades: Ornithischia, Sauropodomorpha and Theropoda<br>Human Origins and paleoanthropology