Adam K. Huttenlocker
University of Southern California

I have been an active member of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology for more than 20 years, having participated in my first SVP Annual Meeting in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2003. My research focuses on major skeletal changes in the classical “reptile-to-mammal” transition. This work has involved both collections-based and field-based study of mammals and their extinct relatives (“synapsids”), e.g., the iconic sail-backed Dimetrodon. Using bone histology and biomedical imaging at a time when these techniques were rarely applied to synapsids, I began describing the growth and function of “sails” in Permian synapsids and contemporary sail-backed tetrapods, studied growth patterns in synapsid communities in response to environmental change, and investigated the paleophysiology of Permo-Triassic therapsids including the origins of mammalian enucleated red blood cells, shedding light on why the mammalian body functions the way it does. My research has also included field sites in the Permian and Triassic of South Africa, Morocco, Antarctica, and my lab conducts regular expeditions to the southwestern U.S. (Colorado, Utah).

My participation in SVP and other service roles would allow me to hit the ground running in this position. As a student, I received the Richard Estes Prize (2009) and Alfred S. Romer Prize (2013) and participated in several student round table events. I serve on the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology’s editorial board and co-organized SVP-sponsored field trips, e.g., to Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument. I have also served on ad hoc subcommittees for the SVP Government Affairs Committee, allowing me to advocate for inclusive and environmentally conscientious public land use that includes responsible science and fossil collection. At the University of Southern California, ​I maintain an active and growing research lab and field program and am responsible for the oversight of histology and anatomy education for our medical school’s pre-clerkship Medical Education Curriculum Committee. From 2017-2021, I also oversaw the coordination and growth of the USC Paleosciences Research Consortium (“PRC”), which promoted collaboration and inclusiveness between USC and other paleontological research ​​institutions​ across Southern California.

I am currently an Associate Professor at USC and a Research Associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Carnegie Museum of Natural History. I hold degrees from the University of Colorado (B.A., 2005), California State University (M.S., 2008), and the University of Washington (Ph.D., 2013). From 2013 to 2016, I was a NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Utah and Natural History Museum of Utah, and I am an active member of SVP and the American Association for Anatomy.