Curriculum

Affiliated Institutions

Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity

The AHRC Research Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity [CECD] is an international leader in applying methodological and theoretical advances from evolutionary biology to a wide range of case studies in cultural history. It involves faculty, postdoctoral research fellows, and graduate students from a number of departments at University College London, as well as researchers at several other universities, including the University of Sheffield, the University of St. Andrews, the University of Durham, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of British Columbia. CECD staff members include many leaders in the application of phylogenetic methods and the neutral model to cultural phenomena, as well as in the use of the principles of human behavioral ecology and dual inheritance theory to make sense of the archaeological record. Specific research projects of interest to IPEM that are on-going or soon to begin at the CECD include an investigation of the patterns and processes of cultural and linguistic transmission among the complex hunter-fisher-gatherers of the North American NW Coast; a study of population size and structure as determinants of behavioral diversity and innovation rate; a combined phylogenetic and ethnographic study of the material culture produced by Iranian nomadic tribes; a study of the causes of variation in toolkit structure among historically-documented hunter-gatherers; and studies of population replacement in Anglo-Saxon England and the spread of farmers and farming in sub-Saharan Africa.

Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie, University of Bagui

Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centrafricaines (CURDHACA), as well as the central campus of  the University of Bagui in the Central Africa Republic, can provide housing, office space, and some educational resources to IPEM fellows interested in participating in existing or new research in an area of great cultural and biological diversity. All students will establish an affiliation with the University of Bangui and select a Central African faculty member as a local mentor. IPEM faculty Hewlett and Lupo each have ongoing research projects in the region (see Research Opportunities). Students conducting research in the Central African Republic must become competent (not necessarily fluent) in French before departure. Students working in rural areas or with indigenous populations may require additional training in the Sango and/or Aka languages, which can be arranged by Hewlett.

Santa Fe Institute

The Santa Fe Institute (SFI), is an internationally renowned center for research on complex adaptive systems, including cognitive neuroscience, computation in physical and biological systems, economic and social interaction, and evolutionary dynamics of natural and social phenomena. SFI, located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, hosts the well-known annual Complex Systems Summer School, which offers an intensive four-week introduction to complex behavior in mathematical, physical, living, and social systems for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the natural and social sciences. Students with two years of graduate course work may also apply to SFI’s Graduate Workshop in Computational Social Science Modeling and Complexity. This workshop brings together a group of advanced graduate students and a small faculty for an intensive two weeks of lectures by faculty, special topic seminars by members of the SFI, and presentations of work in progress by graduate student participants. The primary goal of the summer workshop is to assist graduate students pursuing research agendas that include a computational modeling component. The third summer school possibility at SFI is a Mathematics and Biology topical offering whose curriculum varies somewhat from year to year. Students will have two main ways of interacting with SFI. First, they can enroll in one of three summer schools available described above. This option would be most applicable to first-year students, except for the Graduate Workshop in Computational Social Science Modeling and Complexity, which requires second-year standing. Sessions last 2-4 weeks and therefore leave some time for team research projects. Admission to these sessions is competitive but we anticipate that IPEM Fellows will have a high probability of successful application. Admitted students normally receive financial assistance from SFI, but limited IPEM funds will also be available. The second way that Fellows can draw on the resources of SFI (and CECD, above) in a more extended fashion is through application to the Core Faculty for research, travel, and housing funds to spend a summer, or a term, at SFI or the CECD who, in turn, would provide research space and a faculty or post-doctorate mentor for a Fellow. This option would be taken most frequently during the second half of Year 2 or later. These arrangements would depend on the existence of a faculty member or post-doc with a specific research project who is willing to take on an IGERT fellow to collaborate on a project of mutual interest.

University of Costa Rica

IGERT students conducting research in Costa Rica will establish an affiliation with the University of Costa Rica and select one or more Costa Rican faculty members in the School of Biology as local mentors. The university is centrally located and transportation within the country is relatively easy. Housing may be arranged at the U. of Costa Rica in San José, at the Carara Biological Station, or at other field stations, depending on the location and nature of the research project. The School of Biology at the U. of Costa Rica in San José will provide laboratory space for genetics work, microbiology and parasitology. WSU has an agreement with ACOPAC, the Costa Rican governmental agency with jurisdiction over conservation of natural resources in the Central Pacific region, to conduct genetic and behavioral research on primates in this area. IPEM fellows interested in working in Costa Rica will work with Dr. Jessica Lynch Alfaro to acquire all necessary permits for their particular project and location. A multi-disciplinary team of researchers at the U. of Costa Rica is already engaged in a country-wide project that encompasses many aspects of primate biology, behavior, genetics and conservation, and this group is particularly interested in students, both anthropologists and biologists, who will bring a multi-faceted approach to research on the behavioral ecology of any of the four primate species native to Costa Rica. Their particular interest is on the impact and interaction of human ecology on primate health, ecology and behavior.