Boyer diss 2009 1046..

Acknowledgments
This dissertation is organized so that each chapter is followed by acknowledgments of
those individuals and funding agencies that made the research presented there possible.
However, a few general thanks are stated here. First, I thank those who have provided
me with my foundation in science, many unique opportunities, and critical assistance and
guidance over the years including William Sanders, Jonathan Bloch, Philip Gingerich,
and David Krause. Joseph Groenke is another person who has been particularly
important in the accomplishments partly represented by this dissertation.
My dissertation committee has been a cohesive team, each member fulfilling a
critical and unique role to improve the scientific quality, presentational quality, and
scientific relevance of the work represented by this document. Together they have helped
to hone the many projects in which I am involved down to a select few that constitute this
dissertation.
I must additionally acknowledge the Stony Brook University faculty who did not
serve on my committee but have provided many important or foundational learning,
teaching, and research experiences. These include Jack Stern, Susan Larson, Brigitte
Demes, Stefan Judex, Patricia Wright, James Rohlf, Nate Kley, Troy Rasbury, Randy
Susman, Erik Sieffert, James Rossie, Elizabeth Stone, Fred Grine, Lawrence Martin,
Callum Ross, Cathy Forster, and Alan Turner. I am grateful and honored to have
participated in the tradition of academic excellence that this University and its faculty
represent.
Making a large contribution to the success of Stony Brook University’s anatomy
program are secretaries Linda Benson and Chris Johnson, who have gone out of their way
to help me and many others over the years. Furthermore, Stony Brook could not function
the way it does without the skilled artistry of Luci Betti-Nash and Stephen Nash. Cindy
Stauch, the Museum Business Administrator at the University of Michigan Museum of
Paleontology helped usher in my career in paleontology by putting me in contact with the
Museum’s fossil preparator, Dr. William Sanders, upon hearing of my interests from
Jackie Pozniack, the mutual veterinarian and friend of Cindy and my mother Lyle Lad, in
1997.
Generally speaking, I am in debt to many people at the University of Michigan,
Stony Brook University, and elsewhere who have written letters of recommendation for
my graduate school applications, grant and fellowship applications, and job applications;
and/or those who have taken the time to review the various manuscripts and project
proposals I have written. I must acknowledge my peers in the Stony Brook University
Anatomical Sciences and Anthropology graduate programs who were a source of
inspiration and camaraderie while we learned to become professional scientists together.
I hope that I continue to work with many of these people well into the future. Finally, the
most inspiring and supportive people in my life, without whom the completion of this
dissertation would have had much less meaning for me, include members of my family
(to whom this document is dedicated) and Ashley Gosselin-Ildari.