News
Transmitting Science courses and workshops in genomics, morphometrics, and other areas of biology
20% discount for AAPA members. Most courses meet in Spain.
Call for papers for 2014 AAPA meeting now available
Primate Behavior and Ecology Field Course - La Suerte Biological Field Station
This field course, hosted by the La Suerte Biological Field Station, Costa Rica, will run from July 1st to July 27th, 2013. It will be taught by Dr. Christopher Schmitt (Postdoctoral Scholar with the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, UCLA).
AAPA Professional Development Grant leads to NSF award for Professor Sharon DeWitte
The Black Death was one of the most destructive epidemics in history. Assistant Professor Sharon DeWitte at the University of South Carolina has been examining temporal changes in plague mortality patterns and the effects of the Black Death on the demographic and health conditions of surviving populations as a model for understanding the human response to emerging diseases. Funded by a 2012 AAPA Professional Development Grant, DeWitte collected paleodemographic data from several medieval London cemeteries. Among a number of interesting findings, DeWitte reports greater longevity combined with an increased frequency of periosteal lesions in the post-Black Death sample. DeWitte suggests that enhanced survival but relatively poor skeletal health at later adult ages might account for the post-Black Death pattern, a trend observed in living populations where improvements in mortality and longevity are often associated with declines in health status later in life. DeWitte is continuing her work on the health and demographic effects of the Black Death, having successfully turned her AAPA Professional Development Grant into a National Science Foundation award funded jointly by Biological Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology. Congratulations Professor DeWitte!
W. W. Norton Booth Party at AAPA
When: Today, Fri Apr 12, 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Where: Norton Booth, Knoxville Convention Center. What: Local Craft Beer, Finely Crafted Books, Pretzels
The Rohlf Medal 2013 CALL FOR NOMINATIONS
The Rohlf Medal was established in 2006 by his family and friends to mark the 70th birthday of F. James Rohlf, Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolution and longtime Stony Brook University faculty member. Recipients of the Rohlf Medal will be recognized for excellence in their body of work on the development of new morphometric methods or for their applications in the biomedical sciences, including evolutionary biology, population biology, physical anthropology, and medicine. The term “morphometrics” is intended to include high-dimensional pattern analyses of biological shape, especially those that analyze shape in a comprehensive way, or of covariation of shape patterns with other variables. The award can recognize advances in the mathematical or statistical theory underlying morphometric methods, new software that implements or visualizes new methods, or specific new biological findings that rely crucially on contemporary morphometric methods and represent major advances.
Forensic Science and Anthropology Field School
The Forensic Science and Anthropology Field School is an intensive, three-week course. Students participate in, from the perspective of multiple disciplines, the resolution of a mock medicolegal death investigation from crime scene discovery to courtroom testimony.
Meetings registration extended and other meetings updates
Dear AAPA Members: Our Knoxville meetings are fast approaching! We are pleased extend the online registration deadline (and lower registration rates) to March 20th this year.
Tenth Annual Forensic Anthropology Field School in Albania, Greece, and Romania
May 21-June 14, 2013. Albania’s magnificent archaeological site at Butrint National Park is the primary location for Utica College’s tenth annual Forensic Anthropology Field School course, which also includes visits to the Acropolis in Athens as well as Dracula’s Castle and his birthplace in Transylvania. The field school is open to non-credit participants; no previous experience is required. Undergraduates and graduate students may enroll for six credits at either level.
Teaching Workshop on "Genomics and Anthropology in the Classroom" at the 2013 AAPA Meeting
Wednesday, April 10 2-5pm in 300B (**not 1:00 PM as in AAPA Program). The American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG) will offer a workshop on “Genomics and Anthropology in the Classroom” at the AAPA meeting in Knoxville. This workshop will provide participants with strategies for teaching next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, concepts, and studies in anthropological classes. The workshop will target a non-technical audience, and will feature speakers consisting of investigators directly involved in genomic research and educators who have integrated such research into their teaching regimens. This session has the potential to benefit anyone teaching in biological anthropology.
AAAG Panel on Postdoctoral Training at the 2013 AAPA Meeting
Saturday, April 13 2pm-4pm in 301B. The American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG) will hold a panel on Postdoctoral Training in Anthropological Genetics at the AAPA meeting in Knoxville. This panel aims to provide doctoral students interested in evolutionary anthropology and population genetics with a general introduction to postdoctoral training. Experts from across the field of anthropological genetics with different postdoctoral experiences will discuss several topics, including choosing and planning the postdoctoral training, maintaining the “right” work-life balance, and transitioning into a faculty position.
Outstanding Student Presentation in Anthropological Genetics Prizes: Call for Nominees
The American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG) is pleased to announce the 2013 Outstanding Student Presentation Award competition. Up to two Outstanding Student Presentation in Anthropological Genetics (OSPAG) prizes will be given for the best poster or podium presentations at the AAPA or HBA annual meetings. Each awardee will receive a $200 cash prize and a one-year subscription to the journal Human Biology.
National Geographic Call for Expeditions
Calling all Adventurers and Explorers! National Geographic is searching for the most incredible expeditions of 2013 to film and feature in a dynamic new blue chip series. If you’re planning to break records, conquer the impossible and redefine the limits of human potential, we want to hear from you. Email us at NGExpedition@gmail.com. Tell us about you, your upcoming mission and how far along you are in the planning stage. Make sure to include your name, contact information and a photos and/or videolinks. (Submissions without photos and/or video WILL NOT be considered.) Expeditions that combine adventure and science especially wanted. Be prepared to inspire a new generation.
Announcing the AAPA Professional Development Grants 2013
The AAPA professional development grant recipients have been chosen.
Pollitzer Travel Awards 2013
The 2013 Pollitzer Awards have been announced.
AAPA electronic voting
Electronic voting is open until March 1st. If you are a REGULAR FULL MEMBER in good standing you should have received at least one email blast from Allen Press/survey monkey with a link to the online election materials. If you have not received such an email and want to vote, please CHECK YOUR SPAM first...
Field school - Madagascar, Past and Present: Biodiversity, Extinction & Conservation
The Anthropology Departments at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Northern Illinois University, along with SADABE, will offer a Field School that focuses on primate biodiversity, extinction, forest fragmentation and conservation in Madagascar to take place in the summer of 2013. Students enrolled in this field school will earn 6 credits and will gain experience in primatology while working in Madagascar. The field school will run from June 1-30, 2013.
St Mary's University Forensic Archaeology Field School
August 18 – 24, 2013. This course will teach you field recovery techniques of buried remains as well as the protocol associated with crime scene processing.
University of Massachusetts Amherst Field and Laboratory Methods in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology
Field and Laboratory Methods in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology, offered at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will run May 20 – June 28, 2013.
Fundraising for Howells prize
Dear Colleagues, we are writing to you about a fundraising campaign for the W. W. Howells Prize. As we hope you are aware, the Howells Prize is awarded by the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association to recognize outstanding books in biological anthropology.
AAPA 2013 Meeting Program now available
Browsable Online AAPA Meeting Program 2013 (Beta)
A smartphone/tablet-friendly version of the AAPA Annual Meeting program is now available (it works in any browser). It has several features not present in the PDF version. However, if the two versions differ, the PDF version is definitive. This is a beta version of the browsable program, and there are undoubtedly bugs and errors. Caveat emptor!
Huari-Ancash Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Project
The Huari-Ancash Archaeological and Bioarchaeological Project is now accepting applications for the 2013 summer session. This year, three programs will be offered: P1 (2 weeks in June) is a Lab-based workshop during which we will continue to analyze human remains from Marcajirca, a highland funerary Inca site located in the Cordillera Blanca in the Ancash region north of Lima ; P2 (3 weeks June-July) is a Bioarchaeology field school dedicated to excavating Inca funerary structures (Chullpas and caves) and open-air structures in Marcajirca; P3 (3 weeks, July-August ) is an archaeology field school in Huamparan as well as a survey in the area around Huari and along the royal Inca roads. The workshop and field schools are training programs open to all students.
Central European University: Reading old bodies - New directions in the bio-archaeological heritage
The course entitled “Reading old bodies: New directions in the bio-archaeological heritage” will be held July 1st -12th, 2013. The goal of this two-week course is to make students familiar with the different methods and approaches developed in the last decades to study and interpret ancient human remains, considered as a multidimensional source for the comprehension of the past.
Auction for 2014 AAPA meeting in Calgary
The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise has provided a gift certificate for two night’s deluxe accommodation in a Deluxe Lakeview Room with Breakfast, for two, valid until June 1, 2014 ($1475 value). There is also a gift certificate from Brewster travel for transportation from Calgary to Lake Louise, return, by bus.
