News

CHES Graduate Affiliate Kristine Maassen has been selected as a recipient of the inaugural Rutgers Democracy Lab Summer Research Fellowship. Her fellowship project, "Sharing More Than Space: Democracy and Interdependence in Communal Living," examines how intentional communities, including...

It is with great sadness that the Center for Human Evolutionary Studies announces the passing of Sara Magee, a valued member of our extended CHES community. Dr. Susan Cachel, Sara's undergraduate thesis advisor, offers this tribute:  "I am very sad to report that Ms. Sara Magee, a former CHES...

CHES graduate affiliate William Aguado successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on May 8, 2026! His dissertation, "Nutritional Ecology in Orangutans and the Evolution of Salivary Defenses in Primates," combines ecological fieldwork in the rainforests of Indonesian Borneo with laboratory...

CHES Graduate Affiliate & Program Coordinator Eva Hernandez-Janer is among 3 students who has been selected to represent Rutgers University's School of Graduate Studies at the 2026 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Catalyzing Advocacy in Science and Engineering (CASE)...

CHES graduate affiliate Andrew Schwartz successfully defended his doctoral dissertation on February 26, 2026! His dissertation, “Inferring Mammalian Historic and Prehistoric Dietary Ecology Through Dental Microwear Texture Analysis,” uses advanced dental microwear texture analysis to reconstruct...

On February 27, 2026, the Anthropology Department held its annual Second Year Colloquium (2Yq), where second-year Ph.D. students present their developing dissertation research. This year’s presenters included CHES graduate affiliates Kristine Maassen, Khaled Bin Oli Bhuiyan, and Jo Gansemer...

CHES graduate affiliate Khaled Bin Oli Bhuiyan has published a new article in the American Journal of Human Biology! The study investigates how early-life environmental adversity may shape metabolic processes linked to obesity risk. Using data from children and adolescents in Vanuatu, the research finds...

This month, we feature Dimitri Papavasiliou, a fourth-year PhD student in Anthropology whose research examines fire use and domestic space in Pleistocene hunter-gatherers, with a focus on hearth and bedding practices. His work combines ethnoarchaeology, microarchaeological methods, and...

Congratulations to CHES Graduate Affiliates Natalie Robinson and Becca DeCamp on receiving prestigious research grants from the Leakey Foundation! Selected among an international cohort of researchers, both received funding to support innovative doctoral research that advances our understanding of...

Dr. Susan Cachel, CHES faculty member and Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers, recently advised a Cranbury Middle School team competing in the First LEGO League Robotics Innovation Challenge and helped them design a field-ready solution inspired by real archaeological challenges. Drawing from her...

 Congratulations to CHES Director Dr. Erin Vogel,  on her recent  publication in Science Advances: “Integrated behavioral and metabolically flexible responses of wild orangutans to ecologically driven dietary variation.” This landmark study provides integrated evidence of how wild orangutans adapt...

CHES graduate affiliate Charles Maingi has been awarded a grant from the Primate Action Fund for his project, “Anthropogenic Impacts on the Activity Budget, Physiological Stress, and Health of the Tana River Mangabeys (Cercocebus galeritus) in Tana River National Primate Reserve, Kenya.” This award...

CHES Graduate Affiliate Eva Hernandez-Janer has been selected to serve as a Doctoral Student Member of the Wenner-Gren Foundation Advisory Council. Chosen through a highly competitive selection process,  she will serve alongside members of the Advisory Council, contributing the perspectives of...

 We are thrilled to congratulate CHES graduate affiliates Dimitri Papavasiliou and Rebecca (Becca) DeCamp on being awarded National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grants (NSF DDRIGs) for their dissertation projects.   Dimitri Papavasiliou   Dimitri’s project, A...

CHES graduate affiliates from the Bergey Genetics Lab presented their lemur genomics research as part of invited symposia at the 30th International Primatological Society Congress in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Lindsey Hauff gave a talk on her work generating a new genome sequence for an endangered...

This month, we’re thrilled to feature Charles Kivasu Maingi, a fifth-year PhD student and dedicated primate conservationist whose fieldwork explores how primates persist in human-altered landscapes. Charles’s work focuses on the critically endangered Tana River mangabey, a species facing...

 Congratulations to CHES faculty member Dr. Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello and colleagues on the publication of their latest paper in Nature Communications! The article introduces the Microbiota Vault Initiative (MVI), which is a groundbreaking global effort to preserve the planet’s disappearing...

Congratulations to PhD candidate and Graduate Affiliate, William Aguado, who won Best Genetics Poster at the 94th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) in Baltimore, March 2025! His poster, titled “Evolution of Primate Salivary PRP Genes in Response to...

On March 7, 2025, the Anthropology Department held its annual Second Year Colloquium, a key milestone where second year Ph.D. students present their developing dissertation research. This year’s presenters included CHES members Natalie Robinson and Miarisoa Ramilison, with Natalie presenting on her...

CHES congratulates Dr. Erin Vogel on her appointment to the Scientific Executive Committee (SEC) of The Leakey Foundation. The SEC plays a central role in the Foundation’s scientific mission, with members reviewing grant proposals, advising the Board of Trustees, and guiding educational and...