Core Faculty
Core CASHP Faculty are based in the Departments of Anthropology and Speech & Hearing Sciences at The George Washington University, and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and Tropical Research Institute (TRI). These faculty members participate in all facets of CASHP, and they may also serve as primary advisors for students completing the Ph.D. dissertation in Hominid Paleobiology.
THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
Robin M. Bernstein, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Growth and development, endocrinology, breast milk and breastfeeding, maternal and child health, international nutrition.
René Bobe, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: the relationship between climatic change and evolutionary processes, environmental and ecological context of human evolution in Africa
David R. Braun, Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Hominin evolution, archaeology of East African Pleistocene, early hominin technology and behavior, lithic studies.
Alison S. Brooks, Ph.D
Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Paleolithic archaeology, physical anthropology, ethnoarchaeology,
paleoanthropology, geochemistry, geochronology.
Shannon C. McFarlin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Hard tissue biology and microanatomy; primate growth and development; life history evolution; primate conservation biology.
Carson M. Murray, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: primate behavioral ecology, primate competition, maternal behavior, female relationships, infant development
Brian G. Richmond, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Human and primate evolution, evolution of human gait, functional anatomy and development in primates, bone growth and remodeling, multivariate statistics, geometric morphometrics.
Chet C. Sherwood, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Evolution of the primate brain, biological bases of human cognitive abilities, primatology.
Francys Subiaul, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department: Speech & Hearing Science
Research Interests: Primate cognition, cognitive and brain evolution, evolutionary psychology, cognitive development, social cognition, autism.
Bernard A. Wood, Ph.D.
University Professor of Human Origins
Department: Anthropology
Research Interests: Hominid paleontology and systematics, data collection and dissemination, public education of science.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Anna K. Behrensmeyer, Ph.D.
Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology
Institution: Smithsonian NMNH
Research Interests: Vertebrate taphonomy and paleoecology, with particular emphasis on the later Cenozoic of Africa and Pakistan.
Dolores R. Piperno, Ph.D.
Curator of New World Archaeology, Research Scientist
Institution: Smithsonian TRI
Research Interests: Archaeology and human ecology; lowland American tropics; biogeographical and climatological history of the tropical biome.
Briana L. Pobiner, Ph.D.
Education and Outreach Specialist
Department: Anthropology (Human Origins Program)
Research Interests: Plio-Pleistocene hominin diet (carnivory) and ecology, carnivore bone modification, taphonomy, experimental archaeology, evolution education.
Richard Potts, Ph.D.
Curator of Anthropology, Director of Human Origins Program
Institution: Smithsonian NMNH
Research Interests: Early human paleoecology, hominid behavior and evolution; taphonomy.
Matthew W. Tocheri, Ph.D.
Data Management Specialist
Department: Anthropology (Human Origins Program)
Research Interests: human and nonhuman primate evolution, comparative anatomy, functional morphology, Homo floresiensis.
Melinda A. Zeder, Ph.D.
Curator of Zooarchaeology, Director of Archaeobiology Program
Institution: Smithsonian NMNH
Research Interests: The history of human interactions with animals in the Middle East; environmental impact of agriculture; origins of animal domestication.
