Our People
Our joint-appointee faculty help strengthen our partnership and advance scientific research across disciplines.
At the heart of NC State’s University-Museum Partnership are seven outstanding faculty.
These faculty are from a range of NC State’s colleges and departments, and have a joint appointment with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh, N.C. This unique arrangement allows them to teach and advise students at NC State, while also conducting research and public engagement in their laboratories and research facilities at the museum.
Dr. Paul Brinkman
- Teaching Associate Professor, Department of History, College of Humanities and Social Sciences
- Head, Environmental Humanities Research Lab and Curator of Special Collections, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Interests: History of science, especially vertebrate paleontology and geology; museum history; Charles Darwin and other nineteenth and early twentieth-century naturalists
Dr. Lily Hughes
- Research Assistant Professor, Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, College of Sciences
- Research Curator, Division of Ichthyology, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Interests: Dr. Hughes’ lab uses a combination of genomics and data from natural history collections to understand the biodiversity of fishes.
Dr. Roland Kays
- Research Associate Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources
- Director, Biodiversity Research Lab, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
- Professional Website
Research Interests: Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation of Mammals, using new technologies (telemetry, GPS, remote camera traps), combined with traditional methods (collecting data through new field work and studies of museum collections).
Dr. Elizabeth Kierepka
- Assistant Research Professor, Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, College of Natural Resources
- Senior Research Biologist, Biodiversity Research Lab, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Interests: Investigation of varied questions across wildlife from reproductive isolation in evolutionary lineages to evaluating management strategies in invasive species.
Dr. Mary Schweitzer (Emeritus Joint-Appointee)
- Professor Emeritus, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences
Research Interests: Molecular paleontology, molecular diagenesis and taphonomy, evolution of physiological and reproductive strategies in dinosaurs and their bird descendants and astrobiology.
Dr. Adrian Smith
- Assistant Research Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences
- Head, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Research Lab, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Interests: Chemical and behavioral ecology of social insects, insect natural history, biomimicry and science communication.
Dr. Lindsay Zanno
- Associate Research Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, College of Sciences
- Head, Division of Paleontology, NC Museum of Natural Sciences
Research Interests: Field explorations and systematics (primary biodiversity data generation), combined with quantitative approaches and frontier technologies to reconstruct the paleobiology and macroevolution of archosaurs, and decode the impact of climate change on Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems.