Structure and Motion Laboratory

People

Dr John R Hutchinson

Professor of Evolutionary Biomechanics

Dr John R HutchinsonI'm an American biologist who has found a new home in the UK. I got my BS degree in Zoology at the University of Wisconsin in 1993, then received my PhD in Integrative Biology at the University of California with Kevin Padian in 2001, and rounded out my training with a two-year National Science Foundation bioinformatics Post Doc at the Biomechanical Engineering Division of Stanford University with Scott Delp.

I started at the RVC as a Lecturer in Evolutionary Biomechanics in 2003 in the Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences and was promoted to Reader in 2008, then Professor in 2011. My interests are in the evolutionary biomechanics of locomotion, especially in large terrestrial vertebrates. I've studied birds, extinct dinosaurs and their relatives, elephants, and crocodiles. See my Research Interests page for details on my research, and my Collaborations and Links page for more about who I work with. I am now an Associate Editor for the Journal of Theoretical Biology (manuscripts must be submitted through their website).

Also see my page on Academia.edu

Phone: +44 (0) 1707 666 313

E-mail: jrhutch [at; remove this] rvc.ac.uk

My RVC team comprises:

    1. Dr. Stephanie Pierce (NERC tetrapod locomotion postdoc)
    2. Dr. Olga Panagiotopoulou (BBSRC mammalian foot biomechanics grant and Marie Curie EU reintegration grant Fellow)
    3. Dr. Jeff Rankin (RVC Fellowship in Computer Modelling and Simulation)
    4. Heather Paxton (BBSRC broiler chicken biomechanics grant postdoc; PhD pending viva)
      1. Sharon Warner (mammalian foot biomechanics and pathology
      2. Julia Molnar (biomechanics of aquatic-terrestrial transitions in tetrapod evolution; also our Scientific Illustrator)
      3. Luis Lamas (emu locomotion biomechanics and ontogenetic scaling)
      4. Aleksandra Birn-Jeffery (co-supervisor with Monica Daley; bird stability and scaling)
      5. Anna Liedtke (co-supervisor with Andrew Spence; control and stability of many-legged animals)
      6. Outside PhDs (as co-supervisor/collaborator):
        1. Ashley Heers (U Montana-Missoula w/Ken Dial et al.; bird flight origin and evolution)
        2. Michael Pittman (UCL w/Paul Upchurch; dinosaur tail mechanics/evolution)
    1. Julia Molnar (RVC Scientific Illustrator; also doing PhD with JRH)
    2. Philip Pickering (Biomechanics Research Technician)
    1. Dr. Alexis Wiktorowicz Conroy (was postdoc on BBSRC bone/gait scaling grant; finished in 2011)
    2. Dr. Shin-ichi Fujiwara (was Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science Fellow at RVC; finished in 2011)
    3. Dr. Dimitrios Tsaopoulos (was BBSRC elephant postdoc; finished in 2009)
    4. Dr. Lei Ren (was BBSRC elephant postdoc; finished in 2007)
    5. Dr. Vivian Allen (dinosaur evolutionary biomechanics; finished PhD in 2011)
    6. Dr. Charlotte Miller (elephant foot/limb mechanics; finished PhD in 2008)
    7. Thibaud Souter (Paris w/Anick Abourachid et al.; bird/dinosaur pelvic morphometrics and function; finished PhD in 2011)
    8. Dr. Victoria Herridge (NHM w/Adrian Lister; dwarf elephant scaling; finished PhD in 2009)
    9. Dr. Pattama Ritruechai (w/Renate Weller and James Wakeling; horse back mechanics; finished PhD in 2008)

Public Engagement with Science- Activities:

I was a consultant on Theropod Biomechanics at the American Museum of Natural History's "Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries" (12 May 2005-January 2006) exhibit, now travelling to other museums.

I am the Chief Paleontology Advisor for the wonderfully interactive "Be the Dinosaur" exhibit currently touring museums in the USA:

Be the Dinosaur (click for website)

http://www.bethedinosaur.com/

I have been featured in natural history/science TV documentaries such as the award-winning "Inside Nature's Giants" (Channel 4, UK, 2009; elephant); "Raw Anatomy" (National Geographic Channel, 2009; crocodile, elephant), "Dino Gangs" (Channel 4, UK, 2011), "Evolutions" (National Geographic, 2008), "T. rex: Warrior or Wimp?" (BBC Horizon, 2004), several episodes of Discovery Channel-Canada's "Daily Planet", and other programmes worldwide, in addition to official consultant work for other documentaries. Additionally, my team's research is frequently featured in the international media, having been covered in hundreds of print/web stories since ~2002.

Publications: see here

 

Structure and Motion Lab          These pages maintained by the SML          Contact: Alan Wilson


This page was last modified on 12 January 2012