Biological Anthropology

Biological Anthropology (also called "physical anthropology") is the study of the mechanisms of biological evolution, genetic inheritance, human adaptability and variation, primatology, primate morphology, and the fossil record of human evolution. Physical anthropologists at UAlbany work around the globe on issues at the intersection of biology and culture. From New York State to the highlands of the Andes to sites of early human origins in Africa to the tropics of Samoa, issues of adaptation and evolution are the central focus. The projects below delve into how humans adapt to living in extreme physical environments, to living in culturally-constructed urban environments, to disparities created by culture and biology, and to long-term changing environments and subsistence patterns over hundreds of thousands of years.

Center for the Elimination of Minority Health Disparities
The mission of the Center is to contribute to the elimination of minority health disparities by bringing faculty research expertise to bear on the problem through partnerships with communities, health care providers, county departments of health, and the NYS Department of Health. 

Children's Environmental Health Studies
Examination of the affects of urban living on human development and the health ramifications of such. Current focus is analyses of data from the Mohawk Adolescent Well-Being Study (MAWBS), the Young Adult Well-Being Study (YAWBS), and the Albany Pregnancy Infant Lead Study (APILS).

Early Human Phylogeny
Reconstructing the pattern of evolutionary relationships between early human species.

Evolution and Causes of International, Historic, Pre-Historic, and Inter-Ethnic Variability of Human Demographic Rates
Current focuses are statistical modeling of infant mortality using population-based parametric mixtures of logistic regression, development of methods of demographic analysis applicable to endangered species, including non-human primates, and prehistoric human demography.

Functional Anatomy of Chewing
Using engineering methods to understand how the facial skeleton of humans and other primates withstand and adapt to the forces imposed by chewing.

Genotypic, Phenotypic, and Bio-cultural Adaptation to Chronic Hypobaric Hypoxia
Examination of adaptation to high altitude living in the Andes. The focus is on the Native Americans who have lived at 12,000-13,000 feet for thousands of years, where oxygen is approximately 2/3rd that of sea level.