Jeffrey Meldrum

From squatchopedia.com - All things bigfoot and sasquatch

(Redirected from Jeff Meldrum)
Jump to: navigation, search
Dr. Jeff Meldrum
Dr. Jeff Meldrum

Born in 1958, D. Jeffrey Meldrum, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology at Idaho State University and Affiliate Curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the Idaho Museum of Natural History.

Through his work in the field of physical anthropology and his specialization in foot mechanics, Meldrum has studied the implications for bipedal adaptation and locomotion in early hominids. He has also participated in palaeontological field projects to South America, collecting new fossil primate specimens from the Miocene of Columbia and Argentina.

Meldrum is best known for his open-minded yet scientific approach to the bigfoot phenomenon. Because he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, Meldrum was no stranger to the subject, having heard sasquatch stories from an early age. His interest in the legendary creature took a back burner as he continued his formal education and teaching until 1996, when he found and cast a series of fresh sasquatch prints in Washington and, the following year, northern California. Meldrum has since gathered and purchased collections of purported track casts as part of his research into sasquatch foot anatomy, and his lab now houses what may be the world's most extensive collection of sasquatch track casts. Meldrum is widely considered the leading expert on sasquatch footprints as well as the derived morphology and functional anatomy of the foot.

Starting in the late 1990’s, Meldrum has frequently appeared, often with J. Richard Greenwell, in documentaries discussing his insights into amateur videotapes allegedly showing the creatures known as bigfoot and Yeti, in addition to sharing his research pertaining to derived foot anatomy and locomotion. He has spoken at many sasquatch conferences and symposia, including the Willow Creek, CA International Bigfoot Symposium in 2003 and the "Bigfoot in Texas?" exhibit and speaker series presented by the Institute of Texan Cultures at the University of Texas - San Antonio in 2006.

Since about 2001, Meldrum has received approximately $221,025 in grants, matching funds, and equipment donations in support of his on-going research initiative called the North American Ape Project (NAAP). The NAAP has been focused primarily on fieldwork in various regions of the Pacific and Inter-Mountain West.

Since about 2006, Meldrum has had a Virtual Specimen Library project in progress with the Idaho Virtualization Laboratory at Idaho State University. The project, called "Comparative Morphology of the Hominoid Foot" seeks, in part, to create and present virtual 3D images of his collection of purported sasquatch track casts in order to make them universally accessible for analysis. Meldrum received at least two grants and awards during 2007 in support of this project, including a continuation grant of $4,545 from Regal Ridge [1] and $10,000 in matching awards from Thomas & Susan Stepp and John Green [2]. A virtual 3D Footprints Archive, consisting so far of an "Index" collection of 133 low-res virtual 3D images, became viewable in 2011. These images were scanned from March - October of 2007 and, though not as high a resolution as the intended final virtual 3D library specimens, are quite detailed and may be fully rotated in three-dimensional space.

Also in 2007, Meldrum received an $11,000 grant [3] to develop an on-line peer-reviewed journal, The Relict Hominoid Inquiry. The website went live in August of 2011 and is hosted by Idaho State University. The journal features a ten-person editorial board and Dr. Meldrum as editor. Parts of the first volume appeared on the website in January of 2012.

Meldrum received a B.S. in zoology specializing in vertebrate locomotion from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, an M.S. in zoology from BYU in 1984 and a Ph.D. in anatomical sciences, with an emphasis in biological anthropology, from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1989. He held the position of postdoctoral visiting assistant professor at Duke University Medical Center from 1989 to 1991. Meldrum worked at Northwestern University's Department of Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology for a short while in 1993 before joining the the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University where he is Associate Professor of Anatomy and Anthropology.

Contents

[edit] Published Works

[edit] Abstracts of Contributed Poster, Oral Presentation, and Symposia Papers

[edit] Book Reviews

[edit] Research Projects

[edit] Online Journal

[edit] Further Reading

[edit] Notes

  • 1. [1] ISU website, FY2006 Department of Biological Sciences list of grants and projects.
  • 2. [2] ISU Department of Biological Sciences Newsletter, 02/28-03/03, 2007.
  • 3. [3] ISU Department of Biological Sciences Newsletter, 07/29-08/04, 2007.
Retrieved from "http://www.squatchopedia.com/index.php/Jeffrey_Meldrum"
Personal tools
sh