The project goal is to bring together a group of leading and beginning scholars from human biology, primate behavior, and skeletal biology for an intensive two day workshop to develop new and integrative approaches to research questions concerning the evolution of primate adaptation. The workshop will set the agenda for future research initiatives for this new synthesis in physical anthropology, extending beyond the work of any individual set of scholars. The participants will generate working protocols for data collection in this new collaborative undertaking and outline changes in graduate training programs.
This workshop will serve to develop a new synthetic direction within physical anthropology that focuses on the integration of the diverse resources and perspectives of primate behavior, human biology, and skeletal biology. The workshop organizers will generate working protocols for data collection and facilitate interdisciplinary collaborations amongst scientists.
The workshop will have significant positive broader impacts. First, it will foster the development of a new way of doing research within physical anthropology. Second, it will influence undergraduate and graduate training by providing a working document for standardizing data collection that expressly integrates research protocols in skeletal biology, human biology, and primatology. Third, it will build collaborative projects between senior and beginning scientists and underrepresented minorities. The workshop provides an unprecedented opportunity for advancing this new theoretical synthesis in physical anthropology and advancing training and representation within the discipline.
