Dr. Heck received a BA in Telecommunications from Michigan State University with an emphasis on video production. He also earned a BS in Ecology from Montana State University, focusing on organismal biology, paleobiology, and anatomical sciences. He then received a Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences from Oklahoma State University – Center for Health Sciences where he taught Clinical Anatomy, Paleohistology, and Clinical Neuroanatomy. His research assesses bone growth dynamics in modern and extinct tetrapods utilizing undecalcified bone histology.
His work investigates modern tetrapod bone microstructure within phylogenetic, functional, ontogenetic, and behavioral context for the assessment of bone microstructure and inference of biological signals in extinct taxa. Most recently, he has described long bone growth in the nine-banded armadillo, intraskeletal growth variation in the flightless kiwi bird, and assessed bone growth and function in a large sample of humeri from the non-avian dinosaur Maiasaura peeblesorum.