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Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology

Columbian College of Arts and Sciences

Former Graduate Students and Postdocs

  • Shara Bailey – Professor, Department of Anthropology, New York University

  • Katharine Balolia – Senior Lecturer in Biological Anthropology, Australian National University

  • Nicole Barger - Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Anatomy, Howard University College of Medicine

  • Sarah Barks – Director, STEM Career Community, Grinnell College

  • Susana Carvalho – Professor in Palaeoanthropology, School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography, University of Oxford

  • Christine Charvet – Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Pharmacology, Auburn University

  • Paul Constantino – Associate Professor, Chair of Department of Biology, Saint Michael's College

  • Aida Gómez-Robles – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University College London

  • 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

  • Elaine Guevara – Lecturer of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University

  • Ashley Hammond –Associate Curator of Biology Anthropology, Curator-in-Charge of Old World Archaeology, and Division Chair Associate Professor, Richard Gilder Graduate School

  • Sarah Hlubik - College Fellow, Department of Anthropology, Harvard University

  • Aminu Imam - Lecturer, Department of Anatomy. University of Ilorin

  • Rachel Jacobs – Wildlife Forensic Scientist, National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Laboratory

  • Fenna Krienen – Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Princeton University

  • Michael Lague – Associate Professor of Biology, School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics, Stockton University

  • Sean Lee - Data Scientist, KennedyC

  • A. Catherine Markham – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University

  • Shannon McPherron – Senior Scientist - Research Group Leader, Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

  • Julio Mercader – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Calgary

  • Gerard Muntané Medina – Postdoctoral Researcher, Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV) / Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF), University Pompeu Fabra

  • Enquye Negash - Postdoctoral Researcher, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University

  • Rob O'Malley – Project Director, Dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Religion, American Association for the Advancement of Science

  • Melissa Panger – Senior Science Advisor, US 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 – Senior Researcher, Human Longevity, Inc.

  • Gary Schwartz – Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University

  • Muhammad Spocter – Director and Professor, Department of Anatomy, Des Moines University

  • Nicky Staes – Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Research and Conservation, Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp & Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp

  • 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 – Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Rutgers University

  • Erin Marie Williams-Hatala – Associate Professor, Department of Biology, Chatham University

  • Barth Wright – Professor, Department of Anatomy, Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences

 

Former PhD Students

Kimberly Foecke, Ph.D. 2022
Dissertation title: Deconstructing the δ15N paleodietary proxy: implications of culturally-mediated food behavior for trophic position reconstruction
Current position: Associate Researcher. Smithsonian Institution, Museum of Natural History

Lawrence Fatica, Ph.D. 2021
Dissertation title: Skeletal phenotypic variation in Gorilla: ecological, phylogenetic, and ontogeneic perspectives
Current position: Instructor, The Unviersity of Arizona College of Veterniary Medicine

Elizabeth Tapanes, Ph.D. 2021
Dissertation title: The impact of ecology, demography, and genetics on primate pelage
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, UC San Diego

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: Associate Director of Training and Engagement Strategy. Howard University.

Sean Lee, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Female activity budgets and offspring development in wild bonobos and chimpanzees
Current position: Data Scientist. KennedyC.

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

Kelly Ostrofsky, Ph.D. 2019
Dissertation title: Using behavioral and kinematic methods to characterize arboreal behavior of Bwindi mountain gorillas
Current position: Postdoctoral Fellow. 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.

Laurence Dumouchel, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: A multi proxy analysis of Australopithecus anamensis paleoecology in the Omo Turkana Basin
Current position: Quantitative User Experience (UX) Researcher, Linked In.

Kate McGrath, Ph.D. 2018
Dissertation title: From the inside out: Understanding stress-related enamel defects in great ape canines
Current position: Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, SUNY Oneonta

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: Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Anthropology, New York University

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: Instructor, School of Professional and Continuing Education, James Madison University

Jordan Miller, Ph.D. 2017
Dissertation title: Chimpanzee third party behavior: insights into the evolution of human conflict management
Current position: Director of 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: Associate 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: Editor, SFARI, Autism BrainNet, Simons Foundation

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

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

Amy Bauernfeind, Ph.D. 2014
Dissertation title: Comparative protein expression of human and chimpanzee brains
Current position: Associate 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: 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, Oncology Division, Stem Cell Biology, 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: 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: 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: Associate Professor, 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

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 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: 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: Professor of Biological 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: 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: Associate Member of Staff, The Forsyth Institute

Former Master's Students

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