Dr. Funston is a Canadian palaeontologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University. His research interests lie in the way that animals grew and how ecosystems evolved over millions of years. Following his lifelong dream to be a palaeontologist, he completed his PhD at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, focusing on the anatomy and evolution of toothless dinosaurs. This took him across the world, from the badlands of Alberta, to the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. During a Newton International Fellowship in Scotland, he developed an interest in fossil mammals, and how their teeth can be used to understand their life histories and evolution. He continued this line of research as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada, before joining Stony Brook as an assistant professor.