PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS

Dr. Chris Maples has been vice president for research of the Desert Research Institute since 2003. He received his B.S. degree in geology from West Georgia College, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Indiana University in geology (paleontology) with a minor in biology. He served as visiting faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at Clemson University. He worked for eleven years at the Kansas Geological Survey, the last three of which were spent on leave to serve as a program director with several different programs at the National Science Foundation. Chris was department chair in geological sciences at Indiana University before beginning his position at the Desert Research Institute.

Chris' scientific interests range from echinoderm and trace-fossil paleontology to geoinformatics and paleobiogeography. He also has keen interests in the curation and management of scientific data. He was the recipient of the Charles Schuchert Award, presented annually by the Paleontological Society to an outstanding paleontologist under the age of 40. Chris has conducted fieldwork internationally, including desert areas in China and Iran. He has served on numerous external review and NSF proposal review panels, as well as holding various professional society offices. In addition to his work as DRI's vice president for research, he is the former editor of PALAIOS - a journal of paleontology and sedimentology published bimonthly by SEPM (The Society for Sedimentary Geology).