IGERT Program in Evolutionary Modeling

Most of my research involves signaling. My primary focus on evolutionary medicine and mental health, for example, investigates depression, suicide, and deliberate self-harm as potential signaling strategies. I also study the human use of plant secondary compounds, such as nicotine, that evolved to interfere with herbivore cellular signaling systems. My work on music, dance and gossip makes use of strategic models of signaling as well.

Child growth and development is another research theme which grew out of my work on postpartum depression.

Biological anthropology, statistical modeling, biodemography; Bangladesh.

I'm the senior principal investigator on the NSF IGERT (IPEM) grant, and I teach one class (Anth 547, Models in Anthropology) that is part of the of the IPEM curriculum. Currently that class spends a little bit of time on mathematical modeling and most of the rest of the time on agent-based modeling. The other thing that keeps me really busy is the NSF-sponsored "Village Ecodynamics Project" in the US Southwest, which embarks on a second five-year research program in January 2009. 

I am an anthropological archaeologist with specialties in zooarchaeology, hunter-gatherers studies, human-animal interactions and human behavioral ecology.  Over the last 18 years, my research has largely focused on testing predictions derived from evolutionary models against the behavior of contemporary hunters and gatherers. I am specifically interested in understanding how and why hunters make decisions about which prey to pursue, butcher, transport, and build social networks through sharing.