Developmental Ecology and Human Biology Lab

Christopher Dana Lynn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Anthropology, is co-director of the lab. Dr. Lynn's research focuses on human behavioral ecology, the biological stress response, signaling theory, and energetics.

The support of graduate students from throughout the Department of Anthropology in their masters or dissertation research is a central component of DEHB's mission. Current graduate students:

• Achsah Dorsey. Achsah is an MA student interested in developmental responses to stress among children, especially sex-differentiated effects of nutritional stress. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)
• Matt Greenemeier. Matt is an MA student interested in epigenetic pathways in inheritance. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)
• Ross Owens. Ross is an MA student with interests in psychosocial stress among end-of-life patients, in particular with regards to the types of end-of-life care they receive. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)
• Becky Read Wahidi. Becky is a doctoral student whose research interests concern Marianism, and religious moderation of the experience of immigration-related stress. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)
• Martina Thomas. Martina is a doctoral student who did her masters work in Mobile, Alabama concerning body image and obesity among Alabama African American girls and their mothers. She is now developing her PhD proposal with a focus on HIV knowledge and cultural models of HIV among African American adolescents in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)

Whenever possible the lab also involves undergraduate students in its research projects. Contact Dr. DeCaro to learn about current opportunities.

• Catherine Buzney, M.A. Catherine completed her masters thesis on cultural and evolutionary considerations in the effects of stress on the timing of puberty. She is now a medical student at Tufts University. (Advisor: J. DeCaro)
• Meredith Jackson, Ph.D. Dr. Jackson's dissertation concerned cultural models, stress, and pregnancy outcomes in Jalisco, Mexico. Here in the lab, she analyzed markers of stress and inflammation in dried blood spots as part of her study. Dr. Jackson is now working with the US Agency for International Development in Mexico City, Mexico. (Advisor: K. Oths)
• Sarah Szurek, Ph.D. Dr. Szurek's doctoral research described relations among social networks, food models, and diabetes risk among Mexican immigrants. The lab supported the incorporation into her dissertation of biomarkers for glycemic control and systemic inflammation. Dr. Szurek is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Florida Department of Anthropology working with Dr. Lance Gravlee and the Health Equity Alliance of Tallahassee. (Advisor: K. Oths)