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Canadian evolutionary biologist (born 1983) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist at Royal BC Museum, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs",[1] Arbour analyzes fossils and creates 3-D computer models. She named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, British Columbia (now named Ferrisaurus), and has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul,[2][3] Zaraapelta,[2] Crichtonpelta,[4] and Ziapelta.[5]
Victoria M. Arbour | |
---|---|
Born | 1983 |
Nationality | Canadian |
Education | BSc, PhD |
Alma mater | |
Known for | Ankylosaurs |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Paleontology |
Institutions | |
Thesis | Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs (2014) |
Doctoral advisor | Philip J. Currie |
Website | pseudoplocephalus |
Born in 1983, Arbour is from Halifax, Nova Scotia.[6] Her mother, a math teacher, and father, a soil scientist, supported her science interests.[7] Arbour completed a B.Sc. Honours Thesis supervised by Milton Graves, An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada, and graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006.[8] She completed her master's thesis, Evolution, biomechanics, and function of the tail club of ankylosaurid dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) in 2009, and her Ph.D. thesis, Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs, in 2014, both advised by paleontologist Philip Currie at the University of Alberta.[9]
Arbour became Curator of Palaeontology at Royal BC Museum in 2018.[10]
She previously worked as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and Royal Ontario Museum.[11][12][13] As the top-ranked female candidate for the fellowship, she also received a supplement available to applicants who demonstrate "exemplary involvement in science promotion, mentorship, and leadership".[14]
From 2014 to 2016 she was a postdoctoral researcher with a joint appointment at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University.[5][15]
Arbour primarily studies dinosaurs in the group Ankylosauria, including biomechanical analyses of tail clubs.[4][16] Arbour has studied microfossils from Nova Scotia.[9] She has also named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, both locations in British Columbia.[9] She has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul,[2][3][17] Zaraapelta,[2] Crichtonpelta,[4] Ziapelta,[5][18] as well as resurrecting Dyoplosaurus,[19] and publishing a new phylogenetic analysis on the interrelationships of Ankylosauridae.[20]
According to Brian Alary of the University of Alberta, "She's contributed to history-making research by analyzing fossils and creating 3-D computer models, developed course materials and taught 35,000 students at a time through the Dino 101 MOOC."[6] Philip Currie credits Arbour for involving the paleontology discipline with the University of Alberta's "Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science & Technology", making study of dinosaurs more appealing to women.[6]
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