Human Origins Program Team

Human Origins Program Team members at Olorgesailie, Kenya

 

Paleoanthropology is inherently interdisciplinary, with scientists specializing in a wide variety of research topics.

Meet the Smithsonian's Human Origins Program scientific team, and learn about the research projects and other activities that we're involved in.

 

Rick Potts

Photo of Rick Potts standing outside in bright sunlight in a dry and brushy landscape, wearing a khaki shirt

Paleoanthropologist Rick Potts founded and currently directs the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program and is curator of anthropology at the National Museum of Natural History.

Jennifer Clark

close up photo of Jennifer Clark smiling wearing glasses

Jenny's official title is Museum Specialist, but she’s really a generalist; she does lab management, administration, logistics, photography, illustration, and research.

Briana Pobiner

Photo of Dr. Briana Pobiner in Kenya wearing field clothing

Briana conducts paleoanthropological research centered on the evolution of human diets. She also leads the Human Origins Program's education and outreach activities.

Matt Tocheri

shoulder up photo of Matt Tocheri smiling

Matt’s research focuses on the evolution and functional morphology of the human/great ape family, especially Homo floresiensis.

Zelalem Assefa

shoulder up photo of Zelalem Assefa smiling

Zelalem’s research interest include the later prehistory of the horn of Africa and the applications of geospatial information sciences in archaeological investigations.

Anna K. ("Kay") Behrensmeyer

Photo of Anna K. ("Kay") Behrensmeyer holding a fossil bone

Kay is a Research Curator in the NMNH Department of Paleobiology, co-directs the Evolution of Terrestrial Ecosystems Program, and studies geological context at Olorgesailie.

Alison Brooks

Alison Brooks smiling and sitting at a computer

Alison is a paleoanthropologist and Paleolithic archaeologist who has worked at numerous localities in Africa and in northern China.

Michael Petraglia

photo of Mike Petraglia in front of a bookshelf holding a large handaxe

Mike conducts archaeological research in the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian peninsula.

Christian Tryon

Christian Tryon wearing a hat and glasses looking down at a stone tool

Christian's research explores the behavioral evolution of Middle and Later Pleistocene hominins and the origin of Homo sapiens.

Bernard Wood

shoulder up photo of Bernard Wood smiling with glasses on

Bernard Wood is the Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology.

John Yellen

John Yellen hunched over wearing a purple hat, glasses, and shirt in the field

John's research focuses on the processes which led to the emergence of behaviorally modern humans.

E. Grace Veatch

Photo of Grace Veatch standing in front of a gray rock wall, and on the ground near her is a backpack, waterbottle and other field equipment. She is smiling, has dark hair, and is facing the camera. She holding a small laptop and recording pen, and wearing gray field pants, fleece jacket, and t-shirt, with a light colored scarf and dark sunglasses on her head

Grace’s interest focuses on the evolution of the hominin diet and conducts zooarchaeological and taphonomic research at Liang Bua.

Emily Goble Early

Emily Goble Early smiling wearing a gray hat and sunglasses

Emily Goble Early's research focuses on mammalian shifts in taxonomy and abundance that correspond with known global climate change in the Pliocene.

Tom Plummer

Photo of Tom Plummer outside in the bright sun, with a dry and rugged landscape behind him. He is looking at the camera. He is wearing glasses, a wide brimmed hat, a bright multicolored banadana, and a purple t-shirt.

Tom conducts archeological and paleontological fieldwork in Kenya focused on reconstructing the paleoenvironments and behavior of Plio-Pleistocene hominins.

Hanneke J.M. Meijer

Hannake J.M. Meijer smiling with green mountains in the background

Hanneke's research focuses on the evolution, biogeography and extinction of insular birds, and their use as paleoecological proxies in hominin sites.

Habiba Chirchir

Photo of Habiba Chirchir smiling while holding in her hands two femur bones. She is comparing a portion of early human fossil femur to a complete modern human femur

Habiba Chirchir is a biological anthropologist. Her research focuses on the evolution of human and non-human primate bone density patterns.

Ray Bernor

Ray Bernor sitting in a chair with glasses and red shirt on

Ray’s research is on Old World Neogene mammal faunas, biogeography and paleoecology with an interest in hominoid evolution as shaped by climate change.

Bill Melson

a shoulder up photo of Bill Melson wearing a khaki shirt

Bill Melson was a geologist emeritus at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

René Dommain

shoulder up photo of Rene Dommain smiling and standing in front a shelf of books

René Dommain studies biological, environmental and climate dynamics in ecosystems of the old world tropics and reconstructs their landscape history from sediment cores.

Kendra Chritz

photo of Kendra Chritz holding a large mammal jaw

Kendra is a (paleo)ecologist and geochemist who studies human-environment interactions and environmental change from the past to the present.

Jessica Moerman

close up photo of Jessica Moerman smiling

Jessica Moerman is a paleoclimatologist. Her research focuses on how climate changed in the past, specifically rainfall in tropical regions.

Joseph A.M. Gingerich

Joe Gingerich wearing hat in Kenya.

Joe is an archaeologist specializing in hunter-gatherers, stone tools, and spatial analysis.

Jennifer Parkinson

Photo of Jennifer Parkinon outdoors, smiling, wearing a bandana, black zippered vest, hair is blowing in the wind, and wearing sunglasses on top of head

Jennifer is a zooarchaeologist and paleoanthropologist interested in the archaeological record related to human diet and evolution.

Ashley Hammond

Photo of Ashley Hammond standing outside in bright sunlight with dry and rugged landscape behind her. She is smiling, wearing a light brown cap, sunglasses, a blue sleeveless shirt. She is holding a fragment of a fossil jaw of a rhino (Ceratotherium) with 3-4 molar teeth visible. The fossil is ~1.9 million years old.

Ashley works on the fossil record for hominoid (ape and human) evolution in eastern Africa. 

 

Scott Blumenthal

Close-up photo of Scott Blumenthal. He is smiling, wearing dark horn-rimmed glasses, a dark shirt. He has dark curly hair.

Scott's research centers on the ecology and evolution of early hominins in Africa.

Kimberly Foecke

Photo of Kimberly Foecke holding a fossil skull replica and pointing to it's browridge. Kimberly is wearing a dark blouse with her medium brown hair pulled back, and is looking off camera

Kimberly is an archaeometry specialist. Her research applies methods from materials science and analytical chemistry to paleoanthropological and archaeological questions.

 

Lynn Sures

Photo of Lynn Sures. Lynn is facing the camera and smiling while standing with her arms crossed in front of a bush with orange/red flowers. She has short grey hair, is wearing glasses and a black and white striped top.

Lynn Sures is a Washington, DC-based artist.

Joshua Porter

Photo of Joshua Porter. Josh is standing in front of a poster presenationed at a professional meeting. He is facing the camera, has dark hair, and is wearing a blue shirt.

Joshua Porter is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and a graduate student in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas

Shannon McFarlin

Photo of Shannon McFarlin. Shannon stands outdoors on a forrested hillside, smiling and facing the camera. She has short cropped dark hair and is wearing dark colored shirt and zippered jacket.

Shannon's research aims to understand the factors that shape variation in growth, development and life history in humans and other primates as well as what skeletal tissues can reveal about life history evolution in the past.

Rahab Kinyanjui

Rahab Kinyanjui is smiling and looking at the camera. She is wearing a wide brim, beige hat, a yellow, longsleeved shirt, and a backpack.

Rahab Kinyanjui is a paleobotanist & paleoecologist interested in understanding past vegetation change and ecosystems dynamics in eastern Africa.

Ryan McRae

A portrait photo of Dr. Ryan McRae

Ryan McRae is a paleoanthropologist studying the hominin fossil record on a macroscopic scale. He received his Ph.D. from The George Washington University in 2023 in Hominid Paleobiology.

Benjamin Utting

Ben Utting photo (head and shoulders). Ben is smiling. He has dark hair, wire frame glasses, and is wearing a grey sweater jacket.
 Ben studies the relationship between humans and their environments throughout prehistory.

Thais R. Pansani

Photo of Thais Pansansi (Head and shoulders) She is smiling at the camera. Thais has dark hair and is wearing a grey sweater and a dark red overcoat.

Thais is interested in paleoecology, zooarchaeology, taphonomy, and bone surface modifications.

Love My Job.pdf

Members of the Human Origins Program team describe what they do and how much they enjoy their work.