Smith awarded NSF grant to study skull structures of bats

August 23, 2022

Slippery Rock University has been awarded $171,885 from the National Science Foundation for a project under the direction of Tim Smith, an associate professor of physical therapy.

Smith’s project, “Collaborative Research: The role of multifunctionality in the evolution of cranial morphological diversity in bats," addresses how anatomical structures have evolved to accomplish more than one function, with a specific focus on bats.

According to the NSF, the project will be the first to explicitly address the role of multifunctionality in the morphological diversification of the cranium across a whole mammalian order.