Bio - Scott Hartman

Thanks for your interest in me. Because I have diverse interests, I am going to try and get up my CV and other documents that various parties may want to see. More importantly, I will try to partition them so you will be exposed to as little extraneous information as possible. I don't want to bore anyone, but someone interested in licensing artwork obviously wants different information than someone inquiring about scientific research, or someone who just wants to know where to send the hate mail. In the meantime, I've attached a photograph of myself, with my cat Feynman, and a replica of Lucy's skull (the famous Australopithecus afarensis specimen, not an ex girlfriend).

Believe it or not, dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals, while totally awesome, are not my primary passion. I am more interested in evolutionary theory. In particular, I am interested in speciation mechanisms (and that whole species-concept problem), phenotypic plasticity, and most of all the developmental-genetic underpinnings of phenotypic innovation.

When not being an uber-nerd, I also like to:

Watch movies (I'm especially fascinated with special FX)
Try my hand at 3d computer modeling. My software of choice is Softimage XSI.
Read. Perhaps this is still nerd material, but I do read non-science material. At times. I'll provide some examples when I think of them...
Follow social and political news, although this has disgusted me so much lately I may give it up.
Socialize with my friends (even us science types have them!).
Work out. I know, even less intellectual. Still, I try to do it 3 times a week.

News Flash!!! While finishing up my degree at the University of Wyoming (Spring 2005) I was hired to be the Science Director at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis, Wyoming. The initial period of adjustment and playing catch-up that comes with with taking on a job of this magnitude slowed down the rate at which I updated the site over the summer. As our busy summer season winds down, I expect to make more rapid progress in expanding the site. The opportunities afforded by my new position will should provide excellent fodder for future articles on anatomy, including an upcoming series of articles on how to mount dinosaur skeletons. Stay tuned!