Biological Anthropology

The biological anthropology faculty at CU have interests and research strengths that cross sub-disciplinary boundaries and foster collaboration with faculty and graduate students in other disciplines and sub-disciplines. We share an interest in human ecology, the broad integrative area of anthropology that focuses on the interactions of culture, biology and the environment. We also share an interest in the processes of globalization, which are rapidly changing many aspects of the modern world. As biological anthropologists, we are well positioned to analyze the impact of globalization on the interaction between biology and behavior, and to analyze human and primate adaptations to changing environments and declining biodiversity.

The department offers training in several different aspects of ecology: general ecology, early hominin paleoecology, nutritional, community, and evolutionary ecology. Our research foci also include anthropogenic and climatic effects on primate behavior and biology; conservation biology; primate evolution; feeding biology of humans and non-human primates; biogeochemical techniques for studying the diets and habitats of modern and fossil fauna; life history; endocrinology; growth and development; and maternal and infant health.

We carry out research and offer training and research opportunities at a wide range of international sites, including: Bezà Mahafaly, Madagascar; Lajuma Research Centre and the Mokopane Conservation Centre, South Africa; The Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, South Africa; museums in South Africa, Kenya, and Ethiopia; Kibale National Park, Uganda; Keneba, The Gambia; Cali, Colombia; Ta Kou Nature Reserve, Kien Luong Karst area, and Khau Ca Forest area, Vietnam. Our laboratories offer analytical capabilities and training in a broad range of methods, from measurement of human energy expenditure, to immunoassay and mid-infrared spectroscopy, to plant nutritional analysis. Our field sites offer training and research on primate health, community ecology, plant-animal interactions, forest ecology, nutritional ecology, conservation biology, dental ecology, and paleoecology.

Please note that we do not train students specifically in forensics.

More information on our graduate program
 

Biological Faculty

• Robin Bernstein – Growth and development; endocrinology; maternal-infant physiology; life history evolution; lactation biology and breastfeeding
• Herbert Covert – Conservation and ecology of Southeast Asian colobines; biology of the earliest primates of North America, Europe, North Africa
• Steven Leigh – Human and primate evolution, genetics, anatomy, archaeology and socio-cultural anthropology
• Michelle Sauther – Primate biology and ecology. Primate evolutionary biology, growth and development, life history, bio-behavioral responses to anthropogenic change
• Matt Sponheimer – Ecology of early human ancestors in Africa