Research revolves around calibrating past planetary changes and what they mean for understanding today’s global change. Current projects focus on the extinction crisis, climate change, the Anthropocene, and conservation biology, with the goal of understanding the state of the planet today and how we can guide it toward a future we want, rather than one that inadvertently happens to us. 

Ongoing projects include:

1. Assessing the impacts of global change on the global ecosystem and seeking ways to guide the planet sustainably.

2. New approaches to conservation biology in a rapidly-changing world.

3. Humans and climate as drivers of global extinction crises.

4. Stratigraphic basis of the Anthropocene, with a particular emphasis on biological indicators.

5. Collaborative work with South American colleagues and graduate students to better define the timing and causes of Quaternary megafaunal extinctions.