Emily Rayfield is a British

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

, who is a Professor in

Palaeobiology Paleobiology (or palaeobiology) is an interdisciplinary field that combines the methods and findings found in both the earth sciences and the life sciences. Paleobiology is not to be confused with geobiology, which focuses more on the interactio ...

in the School of Earth Sciences at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

.Dr Emily Rayfield: Earth Sciences: University of Bristol
/ref> Her

research Research is "creativity, creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular att ...

primarily focuses on the functional

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

, especially

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s, using computational methods such as

finite element analysis The finite element method (FEM) is a popular method for numerically solving differential equations arising in engineering and mathematical modeling. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat ...

(FEA). In the landmark paper Rayfield ''et al.'' (2001),Rayfield, E. J., Norman, D. B., Horner, C. C., Horner, J. R., Smith, P. M., Thomason, J. J. and Upchurch, P. 2001. Cranial design and function in a large theropod dinosaur. ''Nature'' 409: 1033-1037. the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...

of the

theropod dinosaur Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally ...

Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch (Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alluding to ...

'' was analysed using FEA in order to quantitatively assess different feeding hypotheses. This paper was the first use of FEA on a three-dimensional structure in palaeontology (in collaboration with CT scanning), and spurred the current trend of CT-scanned skull FEA on feeding biomechanics in zoology and palaeontology. Rayfield, E. J. 2007. Finite element analysis in vertebrate morphology. ''Annual Reviews in Earth and Planetary Sciences'' 35: 541–576. In addition, she helped elucidate the cranial biomechanics of the noted carnivorous dinosaur ''

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

'' using two-dimensional FEA.Rayfield, E. J. 2004. Cranial mechanics and feeding in ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. ''Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B-Biological Sciences'' 271: 1451-1459. This study was expanded upon in a comparative finite element analysis of 2D theropod skulls (namely ''Allosaurus'' ''

Coelophysis ''Coelophysis'' ( traditionally; or , as heard more commonly in recent decades) is an extinct genus of coelophysid theropod dinosaur that lived approximately 228 to 201.3 million years ago during the latter part of the Triassic Period from t ...

'' and ''Tyrannosaurus''), in order to quantitatively compare cranial biomechanics. Rayfield, E. J. 2005. Aspects of comparative cranial mechanics in the theropod dinosaurs ''Coelophysis'', ''Allosaurus'' and ''Tyrannosaurus''. ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'' 144 (3): 309–316. Prof. Rayfield was President of the

Society of Vertebrate Paleontology The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) is a professional organization that was founded in the United States in 1940 to advance the science of vertebrate paleontology around the world. Mission and Activities SVP has about 2,300 members inter ...

from 2018 to 2020.

Honours and awards

* 2009 Hodson Award from the

Palaeontological Association The Palaeontological Association (PalAss for short) is a charitable organisation based in the UK founded in 1957 for the promotion of the study of palaeontology and allied sciences. Publications The Association publishes two main journals: ' ...

* 2011 Lyell Fund of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

* 2018 President's Medal from the

* 2019

Bigsby Medal The Bigsby Medal is a medal of the Geological Society of London established by John Jeremiah Bigsby. It is awarded for the study of American geology. Recipients SourcThe Geological Society See also * List of geology awards * Prizes named after ...

from the

*2020 Scientific Medal from the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity devoted to the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained the London Zoo, and since 1931 Whipsnade Park. History On 29 ...

References

English palaeontologists Academics of the University of Bristol Living people British palaeontologists Year of birth missing (living people) {{paleontologist-stub