He is best known for his books, An Introduction to the Study of Dinosaurs,[1] Life Traces of the Georgia Coast,[2] Dinosaurs without Bones,[3] and Life Sculpted: Tales of the Animals, Plants, and Fungi that Drill, Break, and Scrape to Shape Earth.
Martin's main area of expertise is ichnology, the study of animal activity in modern and ancient sediments.
He honed his tracking skills in several field schools with emphasis on modern vertebrate ichnology.
Having run numerous field trips and field courses on Sapelo Island, Georgia and San Salvador Island together with Emory colleague Stephen W. Henderson, Martin developed the experience necessary for books on Trace Fossils of San Salvador[5] and Life Traces of the Georgia Coast.
[6] Martin has visited Australia several times to lecture at Monash University and to collaborate with researchers there on the ichnology of polar dinosaurs and the oldest known fossils of crayfish.