Much of the inspiration for me to start this blog was to help me share that which I am most passionate about: evolution, particularly in our own human lineage. As a graduate student in a top tier PhD program for the field I have access to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) and many other forums for the dissemination of science to the general public. I wanted a centralized place to direct individuals that I would meet, but also a way to share the many activities I engage in: research, fieldwork, publications and meeting presentations, sitting up at night commenting on new publications instead of doing my actual work, etc. with members of the public that would otherwise not have access to these resources.

I am proud and excited to say that many of my peers in the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP) are equally passionate about sharing what we do beyond the scientific community to the public at large. A group of students, myself included, spoke with the faculty to launch a NYCEP blog. Here, students, faculty, alumni, and other affiliated individuals will be posting about the many innovative, interdisciplinary, and exciting things we do on a daily basis. The inaugural post by Elaine Kozma (PhD Student, CUNY/NYCEP) discussed the first annual meeting of the newly formed North Eastern Evolutionary Primatology (NEEP) group attended by many NYCEP students and faculty. I have contributed the second post reporting on a recent talk at Hunter College, CUNY by Stony Brook Professor Dr. Susan Larson, an expert in primate shoulder functional morphology.

Intended future posts will cover other invited speakers, updates from student research projects, tales from the field, and commentary on new papers and studies out relevant to evolutionary primatology: an encompassing term for the genetic, morphological, and behavioral evolution of all primates including humans. I sincerely hope you pay the page a visit to see what NYCEP is up to.

All this may lead some of you to wonder: what is NYCEP anyway? I’ve never heard of that school! Don’t worry – you are not alone. NYCEP is a consortium program, meaning it is an integrated unit training Ph.D. students from multiple physical anthropology and evolutionary biology programs housed at many of New York’s finest academic institutions including: The Graduate Center of the City University of New York Anthropology Department Physical Anthropology Subfield Program, New York University Department of Anthropology and affiliated Center for the Study of Human Origins, The Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History, and Columbia University Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology (E3B). Further, NYCEP is also affiliated with the Paleontology and Anthropology Divisions at the American Museum of Natural History, and students are oftentimes found in the Mammalogy collections collecting data on primates and other mammals in between classes. Many NYCEP morphology students take Human Gross Anatomy alongside first year medical students at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai. Students interested in genetic, behavioral, and morphological questions may collect data on living primates from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) Bronx or Central Park Zoos in the city.

With so many NYCEP students engaging in a wide variety of research projects taking full advantage of all these amazing resources I would hate for any of you to miss out on the most up to date posts on the blog. We hope you get interested, learn something, and most importantly, enjoy your read!