PostDocs:
Anna Warrener
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Research Interests: My research focuses on relating musculoskeletal anatomy to locomotor biomechanics. Most recently I’ve been studying the effect of pelvic shape on hip abductor function and walking and running efficiency, a project that I am now expanding to investigate the mechanics of mediolateral balance of the body during locomotion.
Brenda Frazier
College Fellow
Research Interests: Cranial development, evolution and allometry.
Contact Info: Email
Graduate Students:
Brian Addison
Graduate Student
Research Interests: Cortical and trabecular bone as a biological tissue and engineering material.
Contact Info: Email
Eric Castillo
Graduate Student
Research Interests: Biomechanics, functional morphology, experimental biology, mammalian locomotion, human and nonhuman primate evolution.
Contact Info: Email
Katherine Duncan-Zink
Graduate Student | Website
Research Interests: Broadly, I am interested in how food processing techniques would act to alter hominid biology. More specifically, my primary focus concerns the effects of cooking on masticatory force production, bioavailability of nutrients, and skull and dental growth..
Contact Info: Email | WebsiteCarolyn Eng
Graduate Student | Website
Research Interests: I am interested in muscle and tendon physiology and factors affecting the behavior of muscle in vivo. Specifically, I am interested in the development, plasticity, and functional relevance of muscle architecture and its contribution to dynamic muscle function. I am also interested in the interaction between muscles and tendons and how their interaction influences energy storage and ultimately, locomotor efficiency.
Neil Roach
Graduate Student | Website
Research Interests: I am interested in the evolution of hominin behavior and the environmental and physiological forces which shaped it over time. I am intrigued by functional morphology, especially of the bipedal shoulder. My research will investigate experimental models of usage and performance of the human shoulder during activities such as throwing and tool production in conjunction with a comparative study of hominid shoulder morphology.
Associates:
Philip Rightmire
Associate | website
Research Interests: My interests include systematics, musculoskeletal anatomy, skeletal biology of human populations, paleoanthropology, and hominin evolution. My research focuses on the genus Homo, and I have been able to study fossils from many of the important prehistoric localities in Africa, western Eurasia, Java, and China. I am particularly interested in the origin and dispersal of Homo erectus at the beginning of the Pleistocene, and the ways in which this species was able to adapt to challenges posed by novel environments. Using comparative anatomical and metric evidence, I am also attempting to map the evolutionary relationships among human populations of the Middle Pleistocene. I find this work in paleoanthropology to be highly rewarding. Discoveries of fossils call for constant adjustments to our thinking about the evolutionary process, and the future promises to bring many exciting new developments.
Madhusudhan Venkadesan
Associate | Website
Research Interests: Dynamics of biomechanical systems, Multibody dynamics, Multisensory control, Optimal control, Model reduction, Neuromuscular biomechanics, Robotics, Sensorimotor Control, Bifurcation theory, Stochastic dynamical systems, Probability theory, Delay differential equations, Differential geometry, Clinical measurement and evaluation of motor function, Nonlinear dynamical systems..