I am an anatomist, biological anthropologist and field researcher. My research focuses on human evolutionary anatomy, paleoecology, and human dispersal patterns in Southeast Asia during the past 80,000 years. Specifically, I investigate how climate, environment, and competition for resources may have influenced initial human dispersal pathways to Australia. I use paleoclimate niche modeling and GIS with the goal of increasing the success of traditional fossil survey methods. I am also a National Geographic Explorer and, since 2014, have been a part of an international team of researchers doing human origins excavations in the Lao PDR in concert with the Lao Ministry of Heritage, Culture, and Tourism, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the Musee de l’Homme, Paris.

I am the Anatomy Thread Director of the University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus.