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.
2023
Minhua Yan
Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse (France)
minhua.yan@iast.fr
Dissertation: How norms are maintained and how they change: A mathematical model and a field study
Advisors: Robert Boyd and Sarah Mathew, co-chairs; Dan Hruschka
2022
Jonathan Page
Dissertation: The Evolution of Stone Tool Traditions
Advisors: Charles Perreault (chair), Michael Barton, Matt Peoples
2021
Joel Bray
Director of Measurement and Analytics, Authentic, Phoenix, AZ
Dissertation: Social relationships in male chimpanzees: Form, function, and development
Advisors: Ian Gilby (chair), Joan Silk, Kevin Langergraber, Zarin Machanda
E. Susanne Daly
Lecturer, Biological Sciences, Sailsbury University
sxdaly@salisbury.edu
Dissertation: Premolar molarization in Haplorrhine primates
Advisors: Gary Schwartz (chair), Lucas Delezene, William Kimbel
Ellis Locke
Assistant Professor, Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine
elocke@idahocom.org
Dissertation: Molar shape, function, and tooth wear in the evolution of Cercopithecoid bilophodonty
Advisors: Kaye Reed (chair), Gary Schwartz, Jay Kelley
Samantha K. Patterson
Postdoctoral Scholar, Department of Anthropology, New York University
skpatter7@nyu.edu
Dissertation: Effects of early life experiences on development and adult outcomes in wild olive baboons
Advisor: Joan B. Silk
Irene Smail
Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine
ismail@osteo.wvsom.edu
Dissertation: Environmental correlates of community structure in living and fossil Cercopithecid primates
Advisors: Kaye Reed (chair), Chris Gilbert, Christopher Campisano
Emily Zawacki
Postdoctoral Researcher, ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration
Emily.Zawacki@asu.edu
Dissertation: Plio-Pleistocene sediments provenance and erosian rates along the East African Rift System
Advisors: Ramon Arrowsmith, Christopher Campisano
2020
Paige Madison
Postdoctoral researcher in Human Evolution in the Anthropocene, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
paige.madison@snm.ku.dk
Dissertation: Discovering human origins: Fossils, practices, and controversies
Advisors: Jane Mainschein (chair), William Kimbel, Manfred Laubichler, Richard Creath, Ben Hulbut
Amanda McGrosky
Postdoctoral Associate, Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University
amanda.mcgrosky@duke.edu
Dissertation: Hard tissue and environmental correlates of primate growth rate variation
Advisors: Gary Schwartz (chair), Jason Kamilar, William Kimbel
Chalachew Seyoum
Assistant Professor, University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix
Dissertation: Hominin dietary niche breadth expansion during Pliocene environmental change in eastern Africa
Advisor: William Kimbel and Kaye Reed (co-chairs)
2019
Andrew Bishop
Dissertation: Costly signaling and prey choice: The signaling value of hunted game
Advisor: Kim Hill, Robert Boyd, Benjamin Trumble
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
Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology
Northeast Ohio Medical University,
ngriderpotter@neomed.edu
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
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, SUNY
jrowan@albany.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
Lecturer, Northern Arizona University
hallie.m.edmonds@gmail.com
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
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota
mnievesc@umn.edu
Dissertation: The population history of the Caribbean: Perspectives from ancient and modern DNA analysis
Advisor: Anne Stone
Simen Oestmo
Director, Data Science at Sound Thinking, Inc., Sacramento CA
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
Associate Director of Research
Optum Center for Research and Innovation
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
Terry Ritzman
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Washington University School of Medicine
tritzman@wustl.edu
Dissertation: A comparative radiographic investigation of facial projection in Anthropoid primates
Advisor: Gary Schwartz
Caitlin Schrein
Federal Relations Advisor
Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington DC
Dissertation: Where did you come from? Where will you go? Human evolutionary biology education and American students' academic interests and achievments, professional goals, and socioscientific decision making
Advisor: Donald Johanson
Laura Stroik
Associate 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
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
Chief of Research and Welfare
Tanganyika Wildlife Park, Goddard, KS
samantha.russak@gmail.com
Dissertation: Ecological role of dry-habitat chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) at Issa, Ugall, Tanzania
Advisor: Kaye Reed
2012
Jocelyn Bernatchez
Southwest Assistant Director of Cultural Resources
WestLand Engineering & Environmental Services, Inc.
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
Associate 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
Associate 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
Newcomer Science and Biology Teacher
Memorial Pathway Academy High School, Dallas-Fort Worth, TX
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
Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas
delezene@uark.edu
Dissertation: Morphological integration and the anthropoid dentition
Advisor: William Kimbel
2010
Kristi Lewton
Associate Professor of Clinical Integrative Anatomical Sciences
Keck School of Medicine, USC
kristilewton@gmail.com
Dissertation: Locomotor function and the evolution of the primate pelvis
Advisor: Mark Spencer
Caley Orr
Associate 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
Associate 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
Associate Professor of Anthropology, School of World Studies, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
alrector@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
Associate 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
Director, Center for the Study of Human Origins
Associate Chair, Department of Anthropology
Associate Professor of Anthropology, New York University, NY
sbailey@nyu.edu
Dissertation: Neandertal dental morphology: Implications for modern human origins
Advisor: William Kimbel