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Claudia A

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at The Graduate Center (CUNY)

Expertise

Biological anthropology; human skeletal biology, osteology; human anatomy; human evolution

Bio

Hi! I'm Claudia, an evolutionary biologist and biological anthropologist that's interested in the evolution of the skull, the dentition, & sex traits across vertebrates. I'm especially interested in dental evolutionary development (evo-devo), sexual polyorphism, and ranges of skeletal variation. I use both traditional osteometric methods and 3D geometric morphometrics in my research. I am also an intersex person, and am interested in advocating for intersex human rights & learning about the sex variation that exists within humans and across in/vertebrates. Outside of the lab, I can be found knitting, reading, and getting back into playing the violin.

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

Skeletal and Dental Variation

The skeleton of humans, fossil hominins, and vertebrates are composed of different kinds of bones, teeth, and other osteological structures. Bones and teeth can be used to help reconstruct the deep past in paleontology, the recent past in bioarchaeology, or in the current day in human biology and forensic anthropology. Students may explore what different bones and teeth are made of, the different parts of the human skeleton & how to identify them, how much variation exists in within groups of one species or across many species, what we can (and can't) say about the past based on skeletal evidence, and how skeletal bioprofiles are created.

Coding skills

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Credentials

Work experience

Harvard University, Dept of Human Evolutionary Biology (HEB) (2019 - 2023)
Teaching Assistant (Evolutionary Human Anatomy & Physiology; Human Evolutionary Anatomy)
New York University (NYU), Center for the Study of Human Origins (CSHO) (2013 - 2014)
Teaching Assistant (Dental Anthropology)
CUNY Hunter College, Dept of Anthropology (2013 - 2017)
Adjunct Lecturer (Intro to Human Evolution)
CUNY Lehman College, Dept of Anthropology (2024 - Current)
Adjunct Lecturer (Intro to Human Evolution; Intro to Human Variation)

Education

Marywood University
BS Bachelor of Science (2007)
Biotechnology
The Graduate Center (CUNY)
MPhil Master of Philosophy (2013)
Biological Anthroplogy
The Graduate Center (CUNY)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Biological Anthropology

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