Abagael R West

Dr. Abagael R West is a Teaching Assistant Professor in Biological Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh's Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. She studies morphological evolution and phylogenetic relationships of extinct and extant placental mammals, with biogeographic focus on South America and Antarctica during the late Cretaceous through early Paleogene. Her secondary research examines pedagogical approaches for teaching tree-thinking and hypothesis-testing.

Research integrates paleontological and neontological data to reconstruct evolutionary histories of mammalian lineages, particularly examining how environmental changes influenced diversification patterns. Her educational research investigates alignment of scientific reasoning instruction with actual research practices.