Berkeley Carroll alumnus Caleb Gordon ’14 has gone from asking big questions in our Upper School science labs to answering them on a global stage. A postdoctoral researcher at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Gordon is now the lead author of a major study featured in Current Biology, research recently highlighted by the popular science publication IFL Science.

Gordon’s fascination with scientific inquiry took hold early at Berkeley Carroll, where he was part of one of the first cohorts of the Scientific Research and Design (SRD) program. As an SRD student, Gordon focused on Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) control, designing and conducting an independent experiment on the potential of Artemia salina (brine shrimp) to mitigate toxic algal species. He interned at the renowned Gobler Lab in Southampton, collaborated with marine scientists, and ultimately won the BC Science Award in 2013.

In the 2014 BC Science Journal Gordon reflected on his time in SRD, and credited the program with shaping the scientist he would become:

“I could never have pursued this research question or attempted this experiment on my own,” he wrote in his research acknowledgements. “I would like to thank my fellow members of the (SRD) program, whose written feedback and probing questions helped me hone my research questions and revise my presentations. It has been, and will continue to be, a fantastic process and experience.”

Gordon’s love of science also reached beyond the lab. Upper School English Chair Erika Drezner remembers how he blended scientific thinking with storytelling:

“Caleb LOVED science,” she recalled. “He once wrote an essay about zombie ants in my personal essay class, the kind of piece that inspired us to start teaching science writing.”

The essay began with the question: Could zombies exist? From there, Gordon explored the scientific plausibility with humor and creativity, a great example of the interdisciplinary thinking Berkeley Carroll cultivates.

Today, that same blend of curiosity and rigor powers Gordon’s research. His recent study, now featured in IFL Science, uses machine learning and thousands of fossil measurements to answer a complex evolutionary question: When and how did extinct species return to the sea after evolving on land? Gordon and his team found that limb proportions, especially hand length, can reliably predict whether ancient species were terrestrial, aquatic, or something in between. Their work even contributes new insight to long-debated questions about the behavior of Spinosaurus.

The project, published in Current Biology, reflects the same spirit of inquiry Gordon showed as a high school researcher at Berkeley Carroll.

“Our results shed new light on how much time Spinosaurus spent submerged,” Gordon explained in the article. “We confidently recovered highly aquatic habits… indicating it spent the vast majority of its time in the water.”

For Berkeley Carroll faculty, seeing Gordon thrive in his field underscores the long-term impact of student-driven research. SRD coordinators and former science faculty often note that the program helps students learn not only how to conduct research, but how to think like scientists, skills that stay with them well beyond graduation.

Gordon’s achievements exemplify the heart of Berkeley Carroll’s mission: embracing students as they are, and supporting who they will be as thinkers, creators, and leaders.

Read the full IFL Science article and learn more about Gordon’s research here.

Images courtesy of Yale Peabody Museum