Former Graduate Students

Former Ph.D students

Laurence Dumouchel, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: A multi proxy analysis of Australopithecus anamensis paleoecology in the Omo Turkana Basin
Current position: Visiting Assistant Professor, The George Washington University

Kate McGrath, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: From the inside out: Understanding stress-related enamel defects in great ape canines
Current position: EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Fellow at PACEA (De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie), Université de Bordeaux

Vance Powell, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: Patterns of variation and covariation in anthropoid limb proportions: Implications for interpreting the hominin fossil record
Current position: Adjunct Instructor of Gross Anatomy, The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Kaitlin Wellens, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: Social behavior in wild male chimpanzees: development and maternal relationships
Current position: Science Education Postdoctoral Fellow, Trinity Washington University

Chrisandra Kufeldt, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Trees from teeth: investigating the potential of dental microstructure for phylogeny reconstruction

Amelia Villaseñor, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Diversity in the Middle Pliocene: a multi-proxy analysis of climate's effect on vegetation and mammalian community structure with implications for human evolution
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico

Kathryn Ranhorn, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Cultural transmission and lithic technology in Middle Stone Age Eastern Africa
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

Laura Reyes, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Tool-use and the chimpanzee brain: an investigation of gray and white matter, and a focused study of inferior parietal microstructure
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIH

Jordan Miller, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Chimpanzee third party behavior: insights into the evolution of human conflict management
Current position: Entrepreneur

Andrew Du, Ph.D. 2016
Dissertation title: The role of scale and ecological inference: implications for interpreting hominin paleoecology
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy, The University of Chicago

David Patterson, Ph.D. 2016
Dissertation title: Ecosystem evolution and hominin ecology between 2.0 and 1.4 Ma at East Turkana, northern Kenya
Current position: Faculty in Biology, University of North Georgia

Jennifer Baker, Ph.D. 2015
Dissertation title: From comparative genomics to synthetic biology: using ancestral gene reconstruction approaches to test hypotheses regarding proximate mechanisms in our evolutionary history
Current position: Program Manager, Illuminating the Druggable Genome, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, NIH

Serena Bianchi, Ph.D. 2015
Dissertation title: Neuroanatomical correlates of attention-getting sounds in captive chimpanzees: towards understanding the evolution of flexible, learned, vocal communication
Current position: Science Writer, Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

Elizabeth Renner, Ph.D. 2015
Dissertation title: Social and asocial learning in humans and orangutans 
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Stirling, UK

Andrew Zipkin, Ph.D. 2015
Dissertation title: Material symbolism and ochre exploitation in middle stone age east-central Africa
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

Amy Bauernfeind, Ph.D. 2014
Dissertation title: Comparative protein expression of human and chimpanzee brains
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine

Kevin Hatala, Ph.D. 2014
Dissertation title: Fossil hominin footprints and the dynamics of footprint formation
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Chatham University

Habiba Chirchir, Ph.D. 2013
Dissertation title: When and why did low trabecular bone density evolve in humans? A comparative and experimental study of trabecular density
Current position: Assistant Professor, Division of Biological Sciences, Marshall University

Kes Schroer, Ph.D. 2013
Dissertation title: The role of extant primate models for interpreting premolar crown variation in fossil hominins
Current position: Director of Academic Commons, GW Libraries and Academic Innovation, The George Washington University

Felicia Gomez, Ph.D. 2012
Dissertation title: Genetic variation at ICAM-1 and CD36: a study of malaria resistance candidate loci in diverse global human populations
Current position: Instructor, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Nicolaas Fourie, Ph.D. 2012
Dissertation title: Hair cortisol in wild and captive primates: environmental effects and behavioral phenotypes
Current position: Associate Medical Science Liaison, Allergan

Janine Chalk-Wilayto, Ph.D. 2011
Dissertation title: The effects of feeding strategies and food mechanics on the ontogeny of masticatory function in the Cebus libidinosus cranium
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Mercer University School of Medicine

Erin Marie Williams-Hatala, Ph.D. 2011
Dissertation title: Biomechanical strategies during Oldowan and Acheulean stone tool production
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Chatham University

Rui Diogo, Ph.D. 2011
Dissertation title: Origin, homologies and evolution of primate head, neck, pectoral and upper limb muscles and the use of myological characters to investigate the phylogenetic relationships within the primate clade
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine

J. Tyler Faith, Ph.D. 2011
Dissertation title: Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions in Southern Africa’s Cape Floral region
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, The University of Utah

David Green, Ph.D. 2010
Dissertation title: Shoulder functional anatomy and development: implications for interpreting early hominin evolution
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy, Midwestern University Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine

Amanda Henry, Ph.D. 2010
Dissertation title: Plant foods and the dietary ecology of Neandertals and modern humans
Current position: Associate Professor, Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University

Catherine Haradon, Ph.D. 2010
Dissertation title: The ecological context of the Achulean to Middle Stone Age transition in Africa
Current position: Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, California State University, Northridge

Nicole Griffin, Ph.D. 2009
Dissertation title: Comparative forefoot kinematics and bone architecture in extant hominids
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University

Lisa Nevell, Ph.D. 2009
Dissertation title: Hominin cranial base evolution and genes implicated in basioccipital development: role of Pax7, Fgfr3 and Disp1 in basioccipital development and integration
Current position: Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, Boston University

Robin Teague, Ph.D. 2009
Dissertation title: The ecological context of the Early Pleistocene hominin dispersal to Asia
Current position: Olde Ipswitch Tours

Matthew Skinner, Ph.D. 2008
Dissertation title: Enamel-dentine junction morphology in extant hominoid and fossil hominin lower molars
Current position: Reader in Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Kent, UK

Alexandra de Sousa, Ph.D. 2008
Dissertation title: Hominoid brain organization: histometric and morphometric comparisons of visual brain structures
Current position: Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Bath Spa University, UK

Paul Constantino, Ph.D. 2007
Dissertation title: Primate masticatory adaptations to fracture-resistant foods
Current position: Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Saint Michael's College

Robert McCarthy, Ph.D. 2004
Dissertation title: Constraints on primate craniofacial growth and architecture
Current position: Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Science, Benedictine University

Felicitas Bidlack, Ph.D. 2003
Dissertation title: The temporal resolution of oxygen stable isotope analyses in dental enamel
Current position: Associate Member of Staff, The Forsyth Institute

Former Masters Students

Angie Peña, M.S. 2018
Thesis title: Patterns of Integration and Modularity in the Hominoid Wrist

Samantha Lubrano, M.S. 2018
Thesis title: Is There Sexual Dimorphism in Canine Crown Shape Among Extant Hylobatids?

Christyna Solhan, M.S. 2011
Current Position: Exhibition Developer and Project Manager, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Nick Lonergan, M.Phil. 2009
Current Position: Liaison Librarian for the Sciences, Dickenson College

Balazs Horvath, M.S. 2006
Thesis title: Beyond Absolute Brain Size? The Allure of Allometry and the Encephalization Quotient