Dr. Lindsay Zanno is Head of Paleontology at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and Associate Research Professor at NC State University.  Zanno received a B.S. in Biological Anthropology (summa cum laude) from the University of New Mexico, followed by an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Utah.  She was subsequently awarded the John Caldwell-Meeker and Bucksbaum Young Scientist Postdoctoral Fellowships at The Field Museum in Chicago, IL.

 

Zanno is one of the world’s leading experts on the evolution of theropod dinosaurs—a group that includes the iconic predator T. rex and Velociraptor, as well as living birds.  The hunt for new dinosaurs has taken her around the world to places such as China, Mongolia, Thailand, Tanzania, and across the American West, from where she has discovered more than a dozen new species, including the megapredator Siats, and Moros, North America's tiniest tyrannosaur.

 

Zanno’s research regularly garners worldwide media attention. Her work has been recognized as Nature World News’ Top Dinosaur Stories, Discover Magazine’s top 100 Science Stories, and Discover Magazine’s Year in Science Top Research, and has been featured by notables such as the Science Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, CBC, PBS, NPR, NHK, Nova, and the BBC, among many others. She was recently recognized with the Eighteenth International Award in Palaeontological Research (Paleonturology 20) and received top 100 author recognitions from Nature Publishing Group in 2016 & 2017. 

 

Zanno actively works to build transparency in science. She served as Science Advocate for the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Spectacular, on-air host for The Ice Age Exhibition, and she currently presides over The Jurassic Foundation, a non-profit, grant funding organization supporting dinosaur research around the globe.  She also leads several public engagement projects including the real-time social media platform—Expedition Live! connecting the public with paleontologists in the field, and the newly launched Dueling Dinosaurs and Cretaceous Creatures projects. 

 

Zanno’s published impact ranges from top science journals such as Nature to everyday Tweets and includes >190 technical works. To date, her lab has received over $6M in direct funding for research and education.