Assistant Director (Collections and Research), Emeritus
Mark studies how dinosaur bones change with growth and how fossil bone is preserved.
Burning questions: "What's the difference chemically and mineralogically between an unaltered modern bone and a fossil bone? What is the effect, if any, of the burial environment on the mineral and chemical properties, and how do you measure it?"
Sidelights: Mark is also researching the behavior and life history of pachycephalosaurs (dome-headed dinosaurs) and ceratopsids (horned-dinosaurs), particularly Triceratops.
His favorite thing about research: "The field of paleontology is much more integrative now, and working with colleagues from geochemistry, biology, and medicine, makes research both fun and challenging. Probing fossils with particle beams and X-rays, or slicing thin sections only 100's of microns thick, provides a wealth of new questions and projects. Plus I enjoy traveling to new places and meeting new people!"
Selected Publications
- Cullen, T.M., F.J. Longstaffe, U.G. Wortmann, M.B. Goodwin, L. Huang, and D.C. Evans. 2019. Stable isotope characterization of a coastal floodplain forest community: a case study for isotopic reconstruction of Mesozoic vertebrate assemblages. Royal Society Open Science. 6: 181210. Read it
- Wosik, M., M. B. Goodwin, and D. C. Evans. 2018. A nestling-sized skeleton of Edmontosaurus (Ornithischia, Hadrosauridae) from the Hell Creek Formation of northeastern Montana, U.S.A., with an analysis of ontogenetic limb allometry. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37(6). e1398168. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2017.1398168.
- Goodwin, M.B. and D.C. Evans. 2016. The early expression of squamosal horns and parietal ornamentation confirmed by new end-stage juvenile Pachycephalosaurus fossils from the Upper Cretaceous Hell Creek Formation, Montana. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. DOI: 10.1080/02724634.2016.1078343. Read it
- Goodwin, M.B., J.A. Nirody, T. Huynh, J.R. Horner, D.Y. Parkinson, R.C. Schott and D.C. Evans. 2016. Mapping and visualizing the complex internal anatomy of pachycephalosaur domes. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 76th Annual Meeting Program & Abstracts, p. 145. Salt Lake City.
- Boatman, E.M., M.B. Goodwin, H.N. Holman, S. Fakra and M.H. Schweitzer. 2016. Characterization of Tyrannosaurus structural proteins using synchrotron X-ray and infrared micro-beam techniques. Society of Vertebrate Paleontology 76th Annual Meeting Program & Abstracts, p. 99. Salt Lake City.