Staff & Faculty Directory
Julia Molnar
Associate Professor; Anatomy, College of Osteopathic Medicine
Education Credentials: Ph.D.
Expertise: Evolution of vertebrate locomotion
Joined New York Tech: 2017
Julia Molnar investigates the evolution of locomotion and feeding in reptiles. She uses three-dimensional virtual models of fossil and living animals to study how muscle leverage, joint range of motion, and other biomechanical factors change over evolution and development.
- Evolution and development of the reptilian jaw
- Digital methods for measuring muscle architecture
- Modeling major transitions in tetrapod limb function
- Molnar, JL, Hutchinson, JR, & Pierce, SE (2026). Musculoskeletal function of stem tetrapod limbs. Palaeontology, Vol. 69, Part 2, 2026, e70049
- Ratkiewicz, A., Granatosky, MC, Davis, CE, Molnar, JL, Hartstone-Rose, A,and Dickinson, E (2025). Multi-method analysis of three-dimensional techniques for the reconstruction of muscle architecture. The Anatomical Record
- Molnar, JL, Watanabe, A., and Dickinson, E (2025). Quantifying muscle architecture in embryos using DiceCT and algorithmic fiber tracking. The Anatomical Record 1–16.
- Watanabe, A, *Arquam, I, Taylor, MJ, and Molnar, JL (2024). Revisiting old questions with new methods: the effect of embryonic motility on skull development in the domestic chick. Journal of Morphology 285: 11, e21785.
- Molnar, JL and Watanabe, A(2023). Morphological and functional regionalization of trunk vertebrae as an adaptation for arboreal locomotion in chameleons. Royal Society Open Science 10: 221509.
- *Ekhator, C., *Varshney, A, *Young, M., Granatosky, *M, Tanis, D, Diaz, RD, and Molnar, JL (2023).Locomotor characteristics of the ground-walking chameleon Brookesia superciliaris. Journal of Experimental Zoology.
- Molnar, JL, Wergeman, I., Boisvert, CA, & Diogo, R. (2022). Editorial: Reconstructing Soft Tissue Anatomy and Function over the Tetrapod Water-Land Transition. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
- Diaz, RE, Taylor-Diaz, EA, Trainor, PA, Diogo, R, and Molnar, JL (2021). Comparative development of limb musculature in phylogenetically and ecologically divergent lizards. Developmental Dynamics.
- Molnar, JL and Diogo, R (2021). Evolution, development, and homology of tetrapod limb muscles. Diversity 2021, 13(8), 393;
- Molnar, JL. (2021). Variation in articular cartilage thickness among extant salamanders and implications for the tetrapod water-land transition. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 285.
- Molnar, JL, Hutchinson, JR, Diogo, R, Clack, JA, & Pierce, SE (2021). Evolution of forelimb musculoskeletal function across the fish-to-tetrapod transition. Science Advances, 7(4), eabd7457
- Molnar, JL, Diogo, R, Hutchinson, JR, Pierce, SE (2017). Reconstructing pectoral appendicular muscle anatomy in fossil fish and tetrapods over the fins-to-limbs transition. Biological Reviews.
- Molnar, JL, Diaz, R, and Diogo, R (2017). Comparative musculoskeletal anatomy of chameleon limbs and implications for limb development and the evolution of arboreal locomotion in lizards. Journal of Morphology.
- American Association of Anatomists Post-doctoral Fellowship, 2015
- Jackson School of Geosciences Student Travel Grant, 2011
- Lazendorf Prize for Scientific Illustration, Society of Vertebrate Paleontology, 2009
- LBD 507: Foundations of Osteopathic Medicine