Affiliated Alumni

Graduates affiliated with the Institute of Human Origins are going on to challenging and impactful careers in science, academia, and research. Below is a growing list of our alumni and where they are making a mark on the field of anthropology.

2020

Chalachew Seyoum
Postdoctoral Researcher, Integrative Anatomy, University of Missouri
chalachew.seyoum@asu.edu
Dissertation: Hominin dietary niche breadth expansion during Pliocene environmental change in eastern Africa
Advisor: William Kimbel and Kaye Reed (co-chairs)

2019

Dominique Garello
Instructor, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Louisiana State University
dgarello1@lsu.edu
Dissertation: Tephrostratigraphy of Pliocene drill cores from Kenya and Ethiopia, and Pleistocene exposures in the Ledi-Geraru Research Project Area, Ethiopia: Geological context for the evolution of Australopithecus and Homo
Advisor: Ramon Arrowsmith and Chris Campisano

Neysa Grider-Potter
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
neysagp@gmail.com
Dissertation: Form and function of the primate cervical vertebral column
Advisor: William Kimbel

Jacob A Harris
jacobharris1809@gmail.com
Dissertation: Probability models of bone surface modification and application to fossil evidence from Ledi-Geraru (2.82 Ma) and Dikika (3.9 Ma), Afar Ethiopia
Advisor: Curtis Marean

Ignacio Aguilar Lazagabaster
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Postdoctoral Researcher, Museum fur Naturkunde, Berlin
ignacio.lazagabaster@mfn.berlin
Dissertation: Evolution and paleoecology of Pliocene Suidae (Artiodactyla, Mammalia) in the lower Awash Valley (Afar, Ethiopia): Implications for hominin evolution and paleoenvironments
Advisor: Kaye E Reed

2018

John Rowan
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Massachusetts Amherst
jjrowan@umass.edu
Dissertation: Abiotic and biotic drivers of turnover and community assembly in African mammals
Advisor: Kaye E. Reed

Emily Hallett
Postdoctoral Scientist with the Pan African Research Group
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
hallett@shh.mpg.de
Dissertation: Zooarchaeological and taphonomic analyses of Pleistocene vertebrate fauna from the Middle and Later Stone Age occupations at Contrebandiers Cave, Atlantic Coast, Morocco
Advisor: Curtis Marean

2017

Hallie Edmonds
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University
hedmonds@asu.edu
Dissertation: The functional morphology of the primate zygomatic arch in relation to diet
Advisor: Kaye Reed

Halszka Glowacka
Assistant Professor, The University of Arizona College of Medicine—Phoenix
halszka.glowacka@gmail.com
Dissertation: Biomechanical constraints on molar emergence in primates
Advisor: Gary Schwartz

Genevieve Housman
Postdoctoral Scholar, Genetics Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago
ghousman@uchicago.edu
Dissertation: Primate skeletal epigenetics: Evolutionary implications of DNA methylation patterns in the skeletal tissues of human and nonhuman primates
Advisor: Anne Stone

Maria Nieves-Colon
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow jointly affiliated with he Laboratorio Nacional de Genómica para la Biodiversidad, Unidad de Genomica Avanzada (LANGEBIO-CINVESTAV) in Guanajuato, Mexico and the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University.
mnievesc@asu.edu
Dissertation: The population history of the Caribbean: Perspectives from ancient and modern DNA analysis
Advisor: Anne Stone

Simen Oestmo
Data Scientist, ShotSpotter Inc., Newark, California
simen.oestmo@gmail.com
Dissertation: A formal modeling approach to understanding stone tool raw material selection in the South African Middle Stone Age: A case study from Pinnacle Point, South Africa
Advisor: Curtis Marean

2016

Kierstin Catlett
Senior Research Analyst, United Health Group
KierstinCatlett@savvysherpa.com
Dissertation: A dental topographic analysis of deciduous tooth wear in hominoids
Advisor: Gary Schwartz

2015

Hope Williams
Director of Planning, Oats Overnight
Dissertation: Micromammals from the Greater Cape Floristic Region near Pinnacle Point, on the South Coast of South Africa
Advisor: Curtis Marean

Benjamin Schoville
Lecturer in Archaeology, School of Social Science, University of Queensland, Australia
b.schoville@uq.edu.au
Dissertation: Landscape variability in tool-use and edge damage formation in South African Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages
Harmon Scholarship 2013-2014
Advisor: Curtis Marean

Amy Shapiro
Data Scientist, Yelp
amesshaps@gmail.com
Dissertation: The relationship between variation in dental microwear textures and annual, season, and monthly dietary variation in African Old World monkeys (Cercopithecidae)
Advisor: Kaye Reed

2014

Laura Stroik
Assistant Professor, Biomedical Sciences, Grand Valley State University, Michigan
stroikl@gvsu.edu
Dissertation: The dietary competitive environment of the origination and early diversification of Euprimates in North America
Advisor: Gary Schwartz

Terry Ritzman
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine
tritzman@wustl.edu
Dissertation: A comparative radiographic investigation of facial projection in Anthropoid primates
Advisor: Gary Schwartz

2013

Thierra Nalley
Assistant Professor, Dept of Medical Anatomical Sciences, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA
tknalley@westernu.edu
Dissertation: Positional behaviors and the neck: A comparative analysis of the cervical vertebrae of living primates and fossil hominids
Advisor: William Kimbel

Samantha Russak
Director of Education, Southwick's Zoo, Mendon, MA
samantha.russak@gmail.com
Dissertation: Ecological role of dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Issa, Ugall, Tanzania
Advisor: Kaye Reed

2012

Jocelyn Bernatchez
Project Director, EcoPlan Associates
jocelyn.bernatchez@asu.edu
Dissertation: The role of ochre in the development of modern human behavior: A case study from South Africa
Advisor: Curtis Marean

Lynn Copes Tommasini
Assistant Professor of Medical Sciences, Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine, Quinnipiac University, North Haven, CT
Lynn.Copes@quinnipiac.edu
Dissertation: Comparative and experimental investigations of cranial robusticity in Mid-Pleistocene hominins
Advisor: William Kimbel

Jamie Hodgkins
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Denver
Jamie.Hodgkins@UCDenver.edu
Dissertation: Tracking climate-driven changes in Neandertal subsistence behaviors and prey mobility patterns
Advisor: Curtis Marean

Lynn Lucas
lynn.m.lucas@gmail.com
Dissertation: Variation in dental morphology and bite force along the tooth row in anthropoids
Advisor: Mark Spencer

2011

Lucas Delezene
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas
delezene@uark.edu
Dissertation: Morphological integration and the anthropoid dentition
Advisor: William Kimbel

2010

Kristi Lewton
Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine
kristilewton@gmail.com
Dissertation: Locomotor function and the evolution of the primate pelvis
Advisor: Mark Spencer

Caley Orr
Assistant Professor, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Modern Human Anatomy Program, University of Colorado School of Medicine
caley.orr@gmail.com
Dissertation: Adaptations to knuckle-walking and digitigrady: A three-dimensional kinematic and morphometric analysis of the anthropoid wrist
Advisor: Mark Spencer

Jeremiah Scott
Assistant Professor of Anatomy, Dept of Medical Anatomical Sciences, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA
jscott@westernu.edu
Dissertation: Nonsocial influences on canine size in anthropoid primates
Advisor: William Kimbel

Claire Terhune
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas
cterhune@uark.edu
Dissertation: The temporomandibular joint in anthropoid primates; functional, allometric, and phylogenetic influences
Advisor: William Kimbel

Amy Rector
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
arverrelli@vcu.edu
Dissertation: Mammal community evolution and biogeography through time in the Western Cape, South Africa
Advisor: Kaye Reed

2009

Marc Jacofsky
Vice President of Research and Development and Director of the SHRI-CORE Orthopedic Research Labs, Center for Orthopedic Research and Education/The CORE Institute, Phoenix, AZ
Dissertation: Comparative muscle moment arms of the primate thumb: Homo, Pan, Pongo, and Papio

2008

Jessica Thompson
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Yale University
jessica.thompson@yale.edu
Dissertation: Zooarchaeological tests for modern human behavior at Blombos Cave and Pinnacle Point Cave 13B, southwestern Cape, South Africa
Advisor: Curtis Marean

2007

Brian Villmoare
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Brian.Villmoare@unlv.edu
Dissertation: A geometric morphometric analysis of the mid-facial region of fossil hominins, modern humans, and great apes
Advisor: William Kimbel

2006

Hamed Vahdati Nasab
Associate Professor of Archaeology, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran
vahdati@modares.ac.ir
Dissertation: Three-dimensional study of the midfacial region in European Middle and Late Pleistocene hominids
Advisors: Donald Johanson and Geoff Clark

2005

Elizabeth Harmon (deceased)
CUNY Hunter College, New York, NY
Dissertation: A comparative analysis of femoral morphology in Australopithecus afarensis: Implications for the evolution of bipedal locomotion
Advisor: William Kimbel
A research scholarship for doctoral students has been established in Elizabeth Harmon's name by her parents. If you would like to contribute to this scholarship fund, please contact William Kimbel at wkimbel.iho@asu.edu or see more information at iho.asu.edu/support

2002

Shara Bailey
Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University, NY
sbailey@nyu.edu
Dissertation: Neandertal dental morphology: Implications for modern human origins
Advisor: William Kimbel