Jim Kerr

Adjunct

In my research, I use specimen-based techniques to study paleoecology and interspecific interactions as they affect evolutionary trends through geologic time as well as the influence of environmental change on ecological interactions. My current research focuses on a suite of commensal organisms that encrusted and bored into the shells of brachiopods in the Appalachian Basin before and after a pulse of the Late Devonian mass extinction. The purpose of this project is to understand how these organisms responded to changing environmental conditions as well as extinction and turnover within the assemblages of their hosts.

Education

• Ph.D.: Geosciences at University of Connecticut
• M.S.: Geology at University of North Carolina Wilmington
• B.S.: Earth Science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Courses

• ERTH 1000E: The Human Epoch: Anthropocene
• ERTH 1050: Earth’s Dynamic Environment