Robyn Burnham

Contact/Bio | Research | Publications | Teaching | CV

Robyn Burnham
Associate Professor

Ph.D. Botany, University of Washington, 1987

U-M affiliation(s)
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Museum of Paleontology
University Herbarium
Department of Geological Sciences

Contact information
University of Michigan
Museum of Paleontology Room 1518
1109 Geddes Ave
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1079
Phone: (734) 647-2585
Fax: (734) 936-1380
Email: rburnham@umich.edu

Fields of study
Tropical ecosystems and paleoecology of northern South America

Academic background
Professor Burnham received her Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Washington in 1987. Her dissertation was on "Inferring vegetation from plant-fossil assemblages: effects of depositional environment and heterogeneity in the source vegetation on assemblages from modern and ancient fluvial-deltaic environments." Research was carried out in southern Mexico (Tabasco) and in the state of Washington in coal mines of the Puget Group. Her Masters Degree was also received from the University of Washington in 1983 on Foliar Morphological Analysis of the Ulmoideae (Ulmaceae) from the early Tertiary of western North America. She received her Bachelor's Degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1980.

Graduate students
Sandra Yap, Rachel Matthews  

Burnham home page

Museum of Paleontology home page

News
Burnham was keynote speaker at Explorathon
Professor Robyn Burnham gave an outstanding keynote address at the American Association of University Women Explorathon 2007 (Birmingham branch). She addressed over 700 young women and their parents and teachers about opportunities in the sciences.

Explorathon reaches students in the inner city as well as the suburbs. Female graduate students in science, math and engineering frequently cite Explorathon as an early turning point in their academic growth. Barbara H. Brose of the Explorathon committee said in a letter that Burnham introduced the girls to fascinating aspects of her research, explained what led her as she grew interested in new facets of intellectual endeavor, and what sustained her as she pursued them. Brose said it was an incredibly literate and holistic approach – one that will serve her audience well beyond the day of the event.

From blogs to bogs: New technology gets students back to nature
Watch two videos featuring Professor Robyn Burnham now on the U-M Research News site: Why she wants to develop an electronic plant identification guide and take a virtual field trip with Burnham and her Plant Diversity class.