Dr. Tim Patterson received both a B.Sc. in Biology (1980) and a B.A. in Geology (1983) from Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S. and a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1986. His dissertation work with Dr. Helen Tappan Loeblich and late Dr. Alfred R. Loeblich involved a biostratigraphic and systematic analysis of "Late Oligocene to Pleistocene Benthic Foraminifera From DSDP Site 357 (Leg 39) on the Rio Grande Rise in the South-West Atlantic Ocean". In 1986-87 he was a post-doctoral researcher at the University of California at Berkeley under the supervision of Dr. Charlotte Brunner. In 1987-88 he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Southern California. Since 1988 he has been on the faculty at the Department of Earth Sciences, Carleton University where he is presently an Associate Professor.

His current research program is concentrated on the use of foraminifera to identify neotectonic and paleoceanographic phenomena on the west coast of Canada, the further development of arcellacea as a new class of paleolimnological indicators, and to determine whether the methods of non-linear dynamics are applicable in the study of evolutionary phenomena.

His personal interests include fishing, hunting, gardening and all things Star Trek.