Dr. Devin Hoffman
PHD FELLOW ALUMNI | Global Change Center
Postdoctoral Fellow, University College London
VT Alumni May 2022 • Geosciences
Advisor: Dr. Sterling Nesbitt
devinkh5@vt.edu
Devin joined the Paleobiology lab group at Virginia Tech with Dr. Sterling Nesbitt in the Fall of 2017, and sucessfully defended his dissertation in the Spring of 2022. Following graduation, he was a visiting Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences where he taught Paleontology. Currently Devin is a postdoctoral research fellow in paleontology working in the Department of Earth Science at University College London.
Devin earned his bachelor’s degree in Geology from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina in 2017. While an undergrad, he completed a senior honors thesis incorporating phylogenetics, computed tomography (CT), and histology to understand the evolution of the aetosaur Coahomasuchus chathamensis, an armored crocodile-relative. As an undergrad Devin also worked as an REU intern at the American Museum of Natural History on the Mammal Tree of Life Project and volunteered in the Paleontology Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
Devin is interested in the macroevolutionary and diversity responses of vertebrates to rapid environmental changes, particularly those surrounding mass extinctions. To do this he studies the Triassic Period (242-201 million years ago) when many modern groups of vertebrates evolved and rapid changes to terrestrial environment and animal assemblages occurred.
The ICG IGEP provides PhD students with a unique intellectual focus and training, gaining depth in their specific scientific area of expertise, while simultaneously gaining breadth in the multifaceted realm of global change and the science-policy interface.
When students complete our program, they remain part of our broad community by becoming part of our Global Alumni Network. Our alumni are invited to participate in our graduate seminar courses, provide keynote remarks at our annual graduate research symposium, return to Virginia Tech for GCC gatherings, network with current students regarding career opportunities, and stay connected to each other.
