Career
Her research primarily focuses on the functional anatomy of extinct vertebrates, especially dinosaurs, using computational methods such as finite element analysis (Federal Energy Administration). In the landmark paper Rayfield et al. (2001), the skull of the theropod dinosaur Allosaurus was analysed using Federal Energy Administration in order to quantitatively assess different feeding hyoptheses.
This paper was the first use of Federal Energy Administration on a three-dimensional structure in palaeontology (in collaboration with Connecticut scanning), and spurred the current trend of Connecticut-scanned skull Federal Energy Administration on feeding biomechanics in zoology and palaeontology.
In addition, she helped elucidate the cranial biomechanics of the noted carnivorous dinosaur Tyrannosaurus using two-dimensional Federal Energy Administration. This study was expanded upon in a comparative finite element analysis of 2D theropod skulls (namely Allosaurus Coelophysis and Tyrannosaurus), in order to quantitately compare cranial biomechanics.
