Victoria Arbour

Victoria M. Arbour
Victoria M. Arbour
Born	1983
Nationality	Canadian
Education	BSc, PhD
Alma mater	Dalhousie University,; University of Alberta;
Known for	Ankylosaurs
	Scientific career
Fields	Paleontology
Institutions	University of Toronto,; Royal Ontario Museum;
Thesis	Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs (2014)
Doctoral advisor	Philip J. Currie
Website	pseudoplocephalus.com

Victoria Megan Arbour is a Canadian evolutionary biologist and vertebrate palaeontologist at Royal BC Museum, where she is Curator of Palaeontology. An "expert on the armoured dinosaurs known as ankylosaurs",^[1] Arbour analyzes fossils and creates 3-D computer models. She named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, British Columbia (now named Ferrisaurus), and has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul,^[2]^[3] Zaraapelta,^[2] Crichtonpelta,^[4] and Ziapelta.^[5]

Early life and education

Born in 1983, Arbour is from Halifax, Nova Scotia.^[6] Her mother, a math teacher, and father, a soil scientist, supported her science interests.^[7] Arbour completed a B.Sc. Honours Thesis supervised by Milton Graves, An ornithischian dinosaur from the Sustut Basin, British Columbia, Canada, and graduated from Dalhousie University in 2006.^[8] She completed her master's thesis, Evolution, biomechanics, and function of the tail club of ankylosaurid dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Thyreophora) in 2009, and her Ph.D. thesis, Systematics, evolution, and biogeography of the ankylosaurid dinosaurs, in 2014, both advised by paleontologist Philip Currie at the University of Alberta.^[9]

Career

Arbour became Curator of Palaeontology at Royal BC Museum in 2018.^[10]

She previously worked as a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada postdoctoral fellow at the University of Toronto and Royal Ontario Museum.^[11]^[12]^[13] As the top-ranked female candidate for the fellowship, she also received a supplement available to applicants who demonstrate "exemplary involvement in science promotion, mentorship, and leadership".^[14]

From 2014 to 2016 she was a postdoctoral researcher with a joint appointment at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and North Carolina State University.^[5]^[15]

Arbour primarily studies dinosaurs in the group Ankylosauria, including biomechanical analyses of tail clubs.^[4]^[16] Arbour has studied microfossils from Nova Scotia.^[9] She has also named the possible pterosaur Gwawinapterus from Hornby Island, and a partial ornithischian dinosaur from Sustut Basin, both locations in British Columbia.^[9] She has participated in the naming of the ankylosaurs Zuul,^[2]^[3]^[17] Zaraapelta,^[2] Crichtonpelta,^[4] Ziapelta,^[5]^[18] as well as resurrecting Dyoplosaurus,^[19] and publishing a new phylogenetic analysis on the interrelationships of Ankylosauridae.^[20]

According to Brian Alary of the University of Alberta, "She's contributed to history-making research by analyzing fossils and creating 3-D computer models, developed course materials and taught 35,000 students at a time through the Dino 101 MOOC."^[6] Philip Currie credits Arbour for involving the paleontology discipline with the University of Alberta's "Women in Scholarship, Engineering, Science & Technology", making study of dinosaurs more appealing to women.^[6]