TESI Founding Director

Phone: 352-273-1937
Email: bmacfadd@flmnh.ufl.edu

Bruce J. MacFadden, TESI’s founding director (2018-2023) is a distinguished professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Florida’s Florida Museum of Natural History. On the UF faculty since 1977, he is the author of several books and more than 200 peer-reviewed professional articles. Bruce has been a principal investigator on more than 50 external grants, mostly from the National Science Foundation, totaling more than $35 million. A vertebrate paleontologist by training, specializing in fossil mammals, he has been the President of both the Paleontological Society and Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. He received his bachelor’s degree (honors) from Cornell University (1971), an MPhil (1974), and Ph.D. (1976) from Columbia University in geological sciences (paleontology). Bruce teaches courses on vertebrate paleontology and Broader Impacts and has been the major professor of two dozen UF graduate students. 

TESI Projects & Programs

As the founding director, MacFadden was responsible for the strategic directions and general oversight of TESI from 2018-2023. He was is directly involved in ongoing TESI initiatives, including Broader Impacts outreach, via faculty training and teaching a graduate seminar on this topic; as a Scientist in Every Florida School program leader; and as principal investigator on the TESI’s NSF-funded project (#2147625) using fossil sharks to teach about machine learning in K-12 schools. He is a frequent speaker at civic organizations (e.g., Rotary) and to public interest groups (e.g., fossils, archeology, and scientific societies). 

Publications:

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Books, single-authored

• MacFadden, B. J. 1992. Fossil Horses: Systematics, Paleobiology, and Evolution of the Family Equidae. New York: Cambridge University Press, 369 pp. 
• MacFadden, B. J. 2019. Broader Impacts of Science on Society. New York: Cambridge University Press, 322 pp. 
• Peer-reviewed articles (selected examples) 
• MacFadden, B. J. 1987. Fossil horses from “Eohippus” (Hyracotherium) to Equus: Scaling, Cope’s Law, and the evolution of body size. Paleobiology 12:355-370.  
• MacFadden, B. J., and T. E. Cerling. 1994. Fossil horses, stable isotopes, and global change. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 9:481-486. 
• Cerling , T. E., Harris, J. M., MacFadden, B. J., Leakey, M. G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V., and J. R. Ehleringer. 1997. Global ecological change through the Miocene-Pliocene boundary. Nature 389:153-158. (cited >2K times) 
• MacFadden, B. J. 2005. Fossil horses—Evidence for evolution. Science 307:1728-1730.  
• MacFadden, B. J., B. Dunckel. S. Ellis, L. Dierking, L. Abraham-Silver, J. Kisiel, and J. Koke, 2007. Natural history museum visitor’s understanding of evolution. Bioscience 57:875-882. 
• Pimiento, C., D.J. Ehret, B.J. MacFadden, and G. Hubbell. 2010. Ancient nursery area for the extinct giant shark Megalodon from the Miocene of Peru. PLoS ONE 5:e10552. (80K views) 
• MacFadden, B. J., L. H. Oviedo, G. Seymour, and S. Ellis. 2012. Fossil horses, orthogenesis, and communicating evolution in museums. Evolution: Education and Outreach. doi 10.1007/s 12052-012-0394-1  
• MacFadden, B. J. 2013. Dispersal of Pleistocene Equus (Family Equidae) into South America and calibration of GABI 3: Biostratigraphic evidence from Tarija, Bolivia. PLoS ONE 8(3):e59277 (11 pages). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0059277  
• MacFadden, B. J. 2017. Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida: The past 60 years of research and education. Bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History. 55:51-87.  
• Ziegler, M. J., P. Antonenko, C. Grant, A. Hastings, B. J. MacFadden, S. Moran, R. Narducci, V. Perez, J. Pirlo, and M. Selba. 2022. Applications of 3D paleontological data at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Frontiers in Earth Science. Special Issue, 3D printing in Geology and Geophysics. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.600696 

Professional Appointments 

• 1977 to present. Assistant, Associate, “Full” Curator (professor rank), and now Distinguished Professor; Chair of the academic department, Associate Director (dean rank) of Exhibits & Public Programs; currently inaugural Director, Thompson Earth Systems Institute (TESI), University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 
• 2015—2016. Visiting K-12 Scientist, Santa Cruz County (CA) Board of Education (sabbatical) 
• 2009—2010. Program Officer, Lifelong Learning Cluster (EHR, DRL), National Science Foundation, Arlington VA (IPA rotator) 
• 1994 Senior Research Fellow, Fulbright, La Paz, Bolivia (Museo de Historia Natural)
•  1993 Visiting Scholar, Department of Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah (NSF-funded sabbatical)
• 1989—1990. Visiting Scientist, Institute for the Study of Continents (INSTOC), Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (sabbatical) 
• 1976—1977. Gibbs Instructor, Department of Geology & Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 

Also see 

https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/museum-voices/bruce-macfadden/