Scott Sampson is a Canadian paleontologist who received his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Toronto in 1993.  His doctoral dissertation examined the evolution of horned dinosaurs from western North America.  As part of this project, he named and described two new species from Montana, Einiosaurus procurvicornis and Achelousaurus horneri, one of which has been featured on a US postage stamp.  After a year working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Sampson spent five years as Assistant professor of Anatomy at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine on Long Island.  He joined the University of Utah faculty in 1999, where, until June of 2007, he served as Chief Curator and Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Utah Museum of Natural History, as well as Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics.  Today he maintains close connections with the University of Utah, serving as Research Curator at the Utah Museum of Natural History and Research Associate Professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics.

Sampson has conducted paleontological fieldwork in a number of countries, including Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mexico, and Madagascar, as well as the United States and Canada.  In particular, several field seasons on the island of Madagascar have resulted in a great number of well-preserved dinosaur specimens, with several new species.  One of these is a small-bodied, bizarre, buck-toothed carnivorous dinosaur dubbed Masiakasaurus knopfleri.  Sampson has initiated several field projects within Utah.  Foremost among these has been a large scale effort in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, southern Utah, which has produced remains of several previously unknown dinosaur species that are currently under study.  Sampson has published numerous scientific and popular articles on dinosaurs.  He lectures regularly on dinosaurs and the importance of teaching evolution, and recently served as the on-air host of a four-part documentary series on the Discovery Channel called Dinosaur Planet.  He is now wrapping up a book for University of California Press addressing the role of dinosaurs in the web of life.