Former Graduate Students and Postdocs

Former Postdoctoral Scientists

  • Shara Bailey – Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University
  • Katharine Balolia – Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology, Australian National University, Australia
  • Nicole Barger – AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, Division of Environmental Biology, Directorate of Biological Sciences, National Science Foundation
  • Sarah Barks – Senior Director, STEM Career Community and Analytics, Grinnell College
  • Susana Carvalho – Professor of Palaeoanthropology, School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford, UK
  • Christine Charvet – Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, Auburn University
  • Paul Constantino – Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Saint Michael's College
  • Tetyana Duka – Research Laboratory Manager, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology, Georgetown University Medical Center
  • Begün Erbaba
  • Aida Gómez-Robles – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
  • Adam Gordon – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York
  • Mark Grabowski – Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Anthropology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
  • Elaine Guevara – Lecturer, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
  • Ashley Hammond – Associate Curator of Biology Anthropology, Curator-in-Charge of Old World Archaeology, and Division Chair, American Museum of Natural History; Associate Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School
  • Sarah Hlubik – College Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University
  • Aminu Imam – Lecturer, Department of Anatomy, University of Ilorin, Nigeria
  • Rachel Jacobs – Wildlife Biologist, Division of Scientific Authority, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Fenna Krienen – Assistant Professor, Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University
  • Michael Lague – Associate Professor of Biology, School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, Stockton University
  • Sean Lee – Lead Biostatistician, The George Washington University Office of Clinical Research
  • A. Catherine Markham – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University
  • Shannon McPherron – Senior Scientist - Research Group Leader, Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
  • Julio Mercader – Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary, Canada
  • Gerard Muntané Medina – Visiting Associate Professor, Institut de Biologia Evolutiva, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Spain
  • Enquye Negash – Postdoctoral Researcher, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University
  • Rob O'Malley – Public Engagement Associate with pgEd.org, Harvard Medical School
  • Melissa Panger – Branch Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Osbjorn Pearson – Professor and Regents Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico
  • Varsha Pilbrow – Adjunct Senior Research Fellow in Archaeology, La Trobe University, Australia
  • John Polk – Associate Professor and Director of Human Biology, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany
  • Neil Roach – Lecturer, Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University
  • Paul Sandberg – Lecturer, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado Boulder
  • Natalie Schenker-Ahmed – Project Manager, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  • Gary Schwartz – Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University
  • Muhammad Spocter – Professor, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University
  • Nicky Staes – Postdoctoral Scientist, Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp & Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Belgium
  • Margaret Stanton – Assistant Professor, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of New England
  • Dietrich Stout – Professor, Department of Anthropology, Emory University
  • David Strait – Professor, Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis
  • Christian Tryon – Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut
  • Andrey Verendeev – Science Writer, BrainPOP
  • Brian Villmoare – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
  • Erin Vogel – Professor, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University
  • Erin Marie Williams-Hatala – Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Chatham University
  • Barth Wright – Professor, Department of Surgery, KU Medical Center, The University of Kansas

Former PhD Students

Niguss Gitaw Baraki, Ph.D. 2025
Dissertation title: Coevolution of stone tools and hominin hand morphology
Current position: Postdoctoral Scientist, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University

Rachel Nelson, Ph.D. 2025
Dissertation title: Socioecological correlates of water availability and behavioral strategies to lactation in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
Current position: Adjunct Faculty, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University

Kristen Tuosto, Ph.D. 2024
Dissertation title: Impacts of early life adversity on bone growth and maintenance in Amboseli baboons
Current position: Tribal Archaeologist, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians

Jack Richardson, Ph.D. 2024
Dissertation title: The role of social play in the development of wild mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) at Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda
Current position: Consultant, IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, ARRC Task Force

Alexis Uluutku, Ph.D. 2024
Dissertation title: The role of character displacement and ecological niche incumbency in hominin evolution
Current position: Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Central Florida

Joanne Umazi Munga, Ph.D. 2024
Dissertation title: Effects of precision during flake production: interaction between knapper skill and raw material properties
Current position:

Victoria Lockwood, Ph.D. 2023
Dissertation title: Variation in arboreal locomotion and hand morphology in modern humans, olive baboons, and chimpanzees
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, PALEVOPRIM, University of Poitiers, France

Courtney Sexton, Ph.D. 2023
Dissertation title: What is written on a dog's face? Implications of phenotype diversity in human-directed canine communication
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

Sylvain Nyandwi, Ph.D. 2023
Dissertation title: Female chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) dispersal and grouping behavior in forest fragments in Rwanda
Current position: Tulane National Primate Research Center

Ryan McRae, Ph.D. 2023
Dissertation title: An inventory and assessment of the early African hominin fossil record prior to the emergence of Homo erectus
Current position: Researcher, Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History

Axelle Kamanzi Shimwa, Ph.D. 2023
Dissertation title: Acquisition of dietary independence in wild Virunga mountain gorillas
Current position:

Kimberly Foecke, Ph.D. 2022
Dissertation title: Deconstructing the δ15N paleodietary proxy: implications of culturally-mediated food behavior for trophic position reconstruction
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University

Lawrence Fatica, Ph.D. 2021
Dissertation title: Skeletal phenotypic variation in Gorilla: ecological, phylogenetic, and ontogeneic perspectives
Current position: Lecturer, Department of Physiological Sciences, University of Florida College of Veterinary Sciences

Elizabeth Tapanes, Ph.D. 2021
Dissertation title: The impact of ecology, demography, and genetics on primate pelage
Current position: AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Office of Pesticide Programs Division of Biopesticides & Pollution Prevention

Eve Boyle, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Testing hypotheses about the relationship between diet and torso morphology in extant primates: Implications for human evolution
Current position: Special Advisor, Maryland Department of Labor; Fellow, STEM Next Opportunity Fund

Sean Lee, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Female activity budgets and offspring development in wild bonobos and chimpanzees
Current position: Lead Biostatistician, The George Washington University Office of Clinical Research

Enquye Negash, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Woody cover in modern African ecosystems: Implications for hominin landscape dynamics
Current position: Postdoctoral Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University

Kelly Ostrofsky, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Using behavioral and kinematic methods to characterize arboreal behavior of Bwindi mountain gorillas
Current position: Assistant Professor of Anatomical Sciences, Rocky Vista University

Jonathan Reeves, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Movement ecology and hominin behavioral evolution: perspectives from East Turkana
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Max Plank Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

Laurence Dumouchel, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: A multi proxy analysis of Australopithecus anamensis paleoecology in the Omo Turkana Basin
Current position: Quantitative Usability Expert, LinkedIn

Kate McGrath, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: From the inside out: Understanding stress-related enamel defects in great ape canines
Current position: Outreach & Engagement Specialist, BCS Allegient

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: Instructor of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine

Cassandra Turcotte, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: Behavioral reconstruction and the effects of habitual activity on the bone-muscle interface
Current position: Assistant Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine

Kaitlin Wellens, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: Social behavior in wild male chimpanzees: development and maternal relationships
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Trinity Washington University

Chrisandra Kufeldt, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Trees from teeth: investigating the potential of dental microstructure for phylogeny reconstruction
Current position: Assistant Professor (Teaching) of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California

Jordan Miller, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Chimpanzee third party behavior: insights into the evolution of human conflict management
Current position: Vice President of Sales and Marketing, IdeaRoom

Kathryn Ranhorn, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Cultural transmission and lithic technology in Middle Stone Age Eastern Africa
Current position: Assistant Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State 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: Scientific Program Analyst, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health

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: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas

Andrew Du, Ph.D. 2016
Dissertation title: The role of scale and ecological inference: implications for interpreting hominin paleoecology
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University

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: Professor, Department of 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 Communicator in-Residence, Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Canada

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

Andrew Zipkin, Ph.D. 2015
Dissertation title: Material symbolism and ochre exploitation in middle stone age east-central Africa
Current position: Senior Scientist, Eurofins EAG Laboratories

Amy Bauernfeind, Ph.D. 2014
Dissertation title: Comparative protein expression of human and chimpanzee brains
Current position: Associate Professor of Anatomy in Neuroscience & Vice Chair of Education, 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: Associate 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, Department of Anthropology, The Ohio State University

Kes Schroer, Ph.D. 2013
Dissertation title: The role of extant primate models for interpreting premolar crown variation in fossil hominins
Current position: Senior Consultant, Deloitte

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: Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Oncology, 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
Deceased

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: Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Biomedical 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: Associate 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: Associate 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: Professor and Chair, Department of Anatomy, Campbell University School 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, Netherlands

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: Professor, Department of Biomedical Education and Data Science, 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: Research Fellow, University of Florida

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: Group leader, Department of Archaeogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Germany

Alexandra de Sousa, Ph.D. 2008
Dissertation title: Hominoid brain organization: histometric and morphometric comparisons of visual brain structures
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine

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

Robert McCarthy, Ph.D. 2004
Dissertation title: Constraints on primate craniofacial growth and architecture
Current position: Associate 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: Senior Director of Research Affairs, The Forsyth Institute

Former Master's Students

Hailee Bilmoria, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Evaluating Trends in Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) Respiratory Illness Susceptibility: A Machine Learning Approach

Colleen Buckley, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Left-Hemispheric Brain Lateralization and Sex Differences in the Processing of Familiar Human Speech by Domestic Dogs

Maddy Hillegas, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff–Examining Dental Evidence of Stress in a Gombe Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii)

Veronika Kulik, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Age-related pathology and microglial activation in felid brains

Claire Lavergne, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Molecular Evolution of Social Behavior-Related Candidate Genes (DRD4 and GRIN1) in Apes

Alyssa McGrath, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: An Ancestral State Reconstruction of Sexual Dimorphism in Hominins

Sims Patton, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Unaffected Survivorship as a Result of Early Life Ecological Stress in Wild Chimpanzees at Gombe National Park

Esther Stoppani, M.S. 2023
Thesis title: Investigating primate protein evolution for two genes (NTRK1 and GRI4) with implications for pain and anxiety chronification

Katherine Auerswald, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Sleeping around: social and ecological determinants of wild chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) sleeping site selection at Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Giovana Delia, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Animal coloration as an illustrative model of selection

Sarah Mangelsdorf Grimm, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Bird-brained: convergent evolution of cognition between birds and modern humans

Hannah Jacobson, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Big brain energy: the metabolic contributions of the gut microbiome and its implications for encephalization in early Homo

Suzanne Kunitz, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: An ethnoarchaeological comparison of bone surface modifications to the butchery of the Dobe !Kung San

Nina Lopergolo, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: The serotonin receptor HTR1A is generally conserved across primates and within a primate species (Sapajus apella)

Gwyneth McNiff, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Characterization of the relationship between executive functioning scores in preschoolers and performance on various imitation tasks

Alexander Průcha, M.S. 2022
Thesis title: Reconstructing anthropoid facial skeletal evolution, and predicting the facial skeletal morphology of the last common ancestors of apes and humans

Kailie Batsche, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: Ontogenetic variability in collagen fiber orientation at the midshaft femur of Virunga mountain gorillas

Annelise Beer, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: How have STEM courses ‘adapted’ to online learning during a pandemic?

Monica Cheung, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: Behavioral thermoregulation: assessing the influence of temperature on chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) ranging behavior at Gombe National Park, Tanzania

Audrey Tjahjadi, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: A phylogenetic analysis of two intestinal disaccharidases in primates

Warrenkevin Hendersen, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: Examining convergence in equids and ursids to understand potential hominin adaptiveness to the cold

Kristin Carline, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: A reexamination of the Oldowan's origin using hominin diversity and environmental variability in Eastern Africa

Molly Karl, M.S. 2021
Thesis title: Electron microscopy analysis of interspecific variation in mitochondria and synapses in the cerebral cortex across 18 mammalian species

Nicholas Burns, M.S. 2020
Thesis title: Is there evidence of competitive exclusion in eastern African later Miocene mammalian communities?

Leanne Chambers, M.S. 2019
Thesis title: Follow the leader: correlates of juvenile leadership in wild chimpanzees

Louis Gorgone, M.S. 2019
Thesis title: Ecological divergence in the medial cuneiform and talus of mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei)

Ayla Riley-Horst, M.S. 2019
Thesis title: Testing techniques for sexing the subadult pelvic remains of modern humans from the African Diaspora

Courtney Sexton, M.S. 2019
Thesis title: Face to face: impacts of expressive communication and domestication on eye muscle morphology in canids

Samantha Lubrano, M.S. 2018
Thesis title: Is there sexual dimorphism in canine crown shape among extant hylobatids?

Angela Peña, M.S. 2018
Thesis title: Patterns of integration and modularity in the hominoid wrist

Daniel Wawrznyiak, M.S. 2018
Thesis title: Evolution of body size in the diverse lesser apes

Christyna Solhan, M.S. 2011
Thesis title: Hallucial tarsometatarsal joint morphology and function: a three-dimensional analysis of medial cuneiforms in extant and fossil hominids

Balazs Horvath, M.S. 2006
Thesis title: Beyond absolute brain size? The allure of allometry and the encephalization quotient