Lance Grande

Roger Lansing Grande (born February 16, 1951), more commonly known as Lance Grande, is an evolutionary biologist and curatorial scientist. His research and work is focused on Paleontology, Ichthyology, Systematics and Evolution. He is well known for his work on the paleontology of the Green River Formation and for his detailed monographs on the comparative anatomy and evolution of ray-finned fishes. He has also published books on broader issues, engaging larger audiences on the importance of the natural and the social sciences.

Grande has won the PROSE award for Professional and Scholarly Excellence from the Association of American Publishers twice, for his books ''Gems and Gemstones'' and ''The Lost World of Fossil Lake''. In 2012, he won the Robert H. Gibbs, Jr. Memorial Award from the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists "for an Outstanding Body of Published Work in Systematic Biology." In 2013, he was appointed as the Field Museum of Natural History's first Distinguished Service Curator, after serving eight and a half years as head of the museum's Collections and Research division and museum Senior Vice President. In 2018, he received the Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. Grande received numerous research grants from National Science Foundation, Negaunee Foundation and Tawani Foundation. He named over 70 new species and higher taxa, publishing over 150 scientific books, monographs, and shorter papers. By 2024, seven different species had been named in his honor by various authors in scientific articles, including one Ordovician crinoid species, four Eocene bird species, and two Cretaceous fish species Provided by Wikipedia