Erin Saupe

Erin Saupe is a palaeobiologist working to investigate interactions between life and environments over geological time scales. Research in the Saupe Lab addresses fundamental questions on the origin, maintenance, and conservation of biological diversity. More specifically, we integrate biological data with information from the fossil record to elucidate the controls on community and species’ responses to environmental change across various spatial and temporal scales. The Saupe Lab also focuses attention on the newly-emerging field of conservation palaeobiology, which applies deep-time information to current problems of species conservation. Our work in this field provides information for assessing how current and future climate change may impact Earth’s biodiversity. In general, our research is question- rather than methods-driven, but we apply a diverse toolkit to investigating these lines of research, including environmental reconstruction, genetics, quantitative modelling, and spatial simulations.

Current areas of interest:

1. Conservation palaeobiology: using the past to preserve the present and future
2. Extinction selectivity: what makes species prone to extinction, and how does this vary through time
3. Latitudinal diversity gradients: when and why do they form?
4. (Palaeo)biogeography: what factors control biological distribution, and how do Earth and environmental processes affect biological diversification?

We are always looking for talented and motivated students and researchers to join our group. If you are interested in investigating macroevolutionary and macroecological patterns and processes, do not hesitate to enquire about available PhD or post-doctoral positions.

2023–              University of Oxford, Professor in Palaeobiology

2016–2023      University of Oxford, Associate Professor in Palaeobiology

2014–2016      Yale University, Yale Institute for Biospheric Studies Fellow

2014                University of Kansas, PhD (Hons) Earth Sciences (Palaeobiology)

2009                University of Kansas, MSc (Hons) Earth Sciences (Palaeobiology)

2007                College of St. Benedict, BA (4.0/4.0 GPA), Natural Sciences

2024                Schuchert Award, Paleontological Society

2023                Edward P. Bass Distinguished Visiting Environmental Scholar, Yale University

2022                Life Sciences Honouree, Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists, UK

2021                Leverhulme Prize, Leverhulme Trust

2021                Commendation, Social Impact Award, University of Oxford, MPLS Division

2020                Hodson Award, Palaeontological Association

2015                Outstanding Service Award, Association for Women Geoscientists

2014                Erasmus S. Haworth Distinguished Graduate Award

2007                Winifred Goldring Award, Association for Women Geoscientists    

2007                Best Honor’s Senior Thesis, College of St. Benedict/St. John’s University