B.S. (cum laude), 1996. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Wildlife Biology.

M.S., 1999. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.

Ph.D., 2002. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology.

Postdoctoral Experience:

Post-Doctoral Research Scientist. September 2002 to August 2004; September 2005 to present. Geology Department, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.

Post-Doctoral Fellow. September 2004 to August 2005. Division of Fishes, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

Grants:

National Science Foundation. 2000-2002. DEB-0073066. Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant. Anatomy and systematics of basal teleost fishes, with special reference to the genus Hiodon (Teleostei, Osteoglossomorpha).

National Science Foundation. 2002-2005. DEB-0128929. Comparative osteology and phylogenetic systematics of fossil and living sturgeons (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes). E. J. Hilton, PI; L. Grande & W. E. Bemis, co-PIs.

National Science Foundation. 2004-2007. DEB-0414552. Comparative osteology and phylogenetic systematics of fossil and living sturgeons (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes), part 2. E. J. Hilton & L. Grande, co-PIs.

Awards

Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Research Assistantship. 1998, 2000. Graduate Program in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Field Museum Visiting Scientist Scholarship. 1999, 2001. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.

Lester Armour and William A. and Stella Rowley Graduate Fellowship. 2000-2001. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.

University of Massachusetts, Amherst Graduate School Fellowship. 2001. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.

Marshall Field III Award. 2004. The Field Museum, Chicago, IL.

Smithsonian Institution Post-Doctoral Fellowship. 2004. Division of Fishes, Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C.

Research Interests

Comparative anatomy, paleontology, phylogenetic systematics, developmental osteology, and historical biogeography of vertebrates, with a particular emphasis on actinopterygian fishes.

Current Research:

I am currently working on a number of projects on the anatomy and evolution of fishes, covering a broad taxonomic range. These projects include: 1) the descriptive, developmental, and comparative osteology and phylogenetic systematics of fossil and living sturgeons [various projects, some in collaboration with L. Grande, W. E. Bemis, C. Dillman and/or R. Wood]; 2) the comparative and developmental osteology of fossil and living bony-tongue fishes [various projects, some in collaboration with P. L. Forey.]; 3) the anatomy and relationsips of selected South American knifefishes [various projects, some in collaboration with C. Cox Fernandes, J. P. Sullivan, J. G. Lundberg, and/or R. Campos-da-Paz]; 4) the comparative osteology and systematics of jacks, pompanos, and their allies, with particular reference to the monotypic Indo-Pacific genus Parastromateus [with G. D. Johnson, and W. F. Smith-Vaniz.]; 5) the osteology of the graveldiver (Scytalina cerdale), a monotypic family from the Pacific Northwest; and 6) the phylogeography of pricklebacks and other intertidal zoarcoid fishes from the Pacific coast of North America [in collaboration with K. Feldheim].

Publications:

Hilton, E. J. & W. E. Bemis. 1999. Skeletal variation in shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) from the Connecticut River: implications for comparative osteological studies of fossil and living fishes. Pages 69-94 in Mesozoic Fishes 2 - Systematics and Fossil Record. G. Arratia & H.-P. Schultze (eds.). Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, Germany.

Hilton, E. J. 2001. Tongue-bite apparatus of osteoglossomorph fishes: variation of a character complex. Copeia 2001: 372-382.

Hilton, E. J. 2002. Observations on the rostral canal bones of two species of Acipenser (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes). Copeia 2002: 213-219.

Hilton, E. J. 2002. REVIEW OF: Mesozoic Fishes: Systematics and Paleoecology (Proceedings of the International Meeting, Eichstätt, 1993), G. Arratia & G. Viohl (eds.). Copeia 2002: 539-542.

Hilton, E. J. 2002. Osteology of the extant North American fishes of the genus Hiodon Lesueur 1818 (Teleostei: Osteoglossomorpha: Hiodontiformes). Fieldiana (Zoology), new series 100: 1-142.

Hilton, E. J. 2003. Comparative osteology and phylogenetic systematics of fossil and living bony-tongue fishes (Actinopterygii, Teleostei, Osteoglossomorpha). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 137: 1-100.

Bemis, W. E., E. J. Hilton, B. Brown, R. Arrindell, A. M. Richmond, C. Little, L. Grande, P. L. Forey, & G. J. Nelson. 2004. Methods for preparing dry, partially articulated skeletons of osteichthyans, with notes on making Ridewood dissections. Copeia 2004: 603-609.

Hilton, E. J. 2004. The caudal skeleton of Acipenseriformes (Actinopterygii: Chondrostei): recent advances and new observations. Pages 599-617 in Recent Advances in the Origin and Early Radiation of Vertebrates. G. Arratia, M. V. H. Wilson, & R. Cloutier (eds.). Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, Germany.

Hilton, E. J., L. Grande, & W. E. Bemis. 2004. Morphology of ÝCoccolepis bucklandi Agassiz, 1843 (Actinopterygii) from the Solnhofen lithographic limestone deposits (Upper Jurassic, Germany). Pages 209-238 in Mesozoic Fishes 3 - Systematics, Paleoenvironments and Biodiversity. G. Arratia & A. Tintori (eds.). Verlag Dr. Friedrich Pfeil, München, Germany.

Hilton, E. J. 2005. Observations on the skulls of sturgeons (Acipenseridae): shared similarities of Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni and juvenile specimens of Acipenser stellatus. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72: 135-144.

Hilton, E. J. & P. L. Forey. 2005. Contributions of Walter G. Ridewood to systematic comparative anatomy, especially of the osteology of "lower" vertebrates. Journal of Natural History 39: 641-655.

Hilton, E. J. & N. J. Kley. 2005. Osteology of the quillfish, Ptilichthys goodei (Perciformes: Zoarcoidei: Ptilichthyidae). Copeia 2005: 571-584.

Hilton, E. J. & W. E. Bemis. 2005. Grouped tooth replacement in the oral jaws of the tripletail, Lobotes surinamensis (Perciformes, Lobotidae), with a discussion of its proposed relationship to Datnioides. Copeia 2005: 664-671.

Hilton, E. J. & L. Grande. 2006. Review of the fossil record of sturgeons, family Acipenseridae (Actinopterygii: Acipenseriformes), from North America. Journal of Paleontology 80: 672-683.

Grande, L. & E. J. Hilton. 2006. An exquisitely preserved skeleton representing a primitive sturgeon from the Upper Cretaceous Judith River Formation of Montana (Acipenseriformes: Acipenseridae: n. gen. and sp.).Journal of Paleontology, Memoir 65, supplement to 80(4): 1-39.

Hilton, E. J. & C. Cox Fernandes. 2006. Sexual dimorphism in Apteronotus bonapartii (Gymnotiformes: Apteronotidae). Copeia 2006: 826-833. [In press].