Anjali Goswami

Goswami spent her undergraduate years (1998) at the University of Michigan, where she focused on how early whales transitioned from the land to the water.[1] After this, she spent time in India at the Bandhavgarh National Park conducting field work.[2] She also conducted field work in Madagascar, Chile, Peru, and Western U.S.[3]

In 2005 Goswami earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago.[4] Her thesis, titled The Evolution of Morphological Integration In the Mammalian Skull, studied the morphological integration, phenotypic modularity, and developmental trait correlations in 107 species of mammals. These 107 species (98 are extant and 9 are fossil based) include representatives of the monotremes, placentals, and marsupials.[5]

After her PhD, Goswami began work at the Natural History Museum, London, and then undertook a lectureship position in the Earth Sciences department at the University of Cambridge.[2]

In 2009 Goswami became a professor of Paleobiology at University College London (UCL) in the Department of Genetics, Evolution, and Environment and the Department of Earth Sciences.[6] At UCL Goswami is also affiliated with the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.[7] She also assumes the role of principal investigator and research leader at the National History Museum in the Life Sciences.[8]

Outside of her roles at UCL and the National History Museum, Goswami is a member of various other committees, projects, and societies. Goswami is a 'member at large' and part of the executive committee at the Society of Vertebrate Palaeontology.[9] Goswami is also the co-director of the UCL Centre for Ecology and Evolution.[10] She sits on the editorial board for Biology Letters, Evolution Letters, and Paleobiology .[11][12][13]

One of her current projects, at the National History Museum, The End of an Era: Resolving the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction in Northwest Argentina, is funded by the Royal Society (£11,993).[8] This project aims to improve the understanding of the huge change in global biodiversity as a result of the Cretaceous/Paleogene mass extinction 66 million years ago, ending the dominance of non-avian dinosaurs.[14] Goswami has authored and edited Carnivoran Evolution, a volume which explores the latest scientific understanding of carnivoran relationships, ecomorphology and macroevolutionary patterns.[15]

Goswami continues to develop her work in vertebrate evolution and development, using the latest imaging tools to reconstruct the evolution of biodiversity as a consequence of the impact of large-scale environmental effects through long periods of time.[16] Alongside this, she continues her field work in the Cretaceous of India and the Paleogene of Svalbard.[6]

• Winner of the Bicentenary medal (2016).[17]