Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Queens College and the CUNY Graduate Program in Anthropology, and core faculty, New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP).

Research Interests

My research concerns the ecology and behavior of a population of wild hamadryas baboons inhabiting the lowlands of the northern Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Currently, I am focusing on the social behavior of female hamadryas baboons in order to better understand the contribution of female behavior to hamadryas social organization. I am also studying the ecology of hamadryas in comparison to that of other baboons in order to investigate the comparative socioecology and evolution of social organization among various baboon taxa. In addition, I am using genetic data to determine kinship relationships among members of my study group, which should shed light on paternity of offspring, reproductive strategies of males and females, the genetic structure of social units, and patterns of dispersal and philopatry among hamadryas baboons.

Representative Publications