Alexis S Uluutku

Areas of Expertise

Anatomy, Osteology, Morphological Systematics, Paleoecology

Background

Program: Human Paleobiology Ph.D (Skeletal biology and paleoecology of Paranthropus boisei)

Year of Entry: Fall 2019

Advisor: Dr. Bernard Wood

Current Research

Alexis Uluutku is interested in the effects of competition between early Homo and Paranthropus in eastern Africa during the Pleistocene. Specifically, she uses geometric morphometrics to test for sympatry and morphological change through time as they relate to ecological niche incumbency and character displacement.

Research Experience: 

Alexis Uluutku is trained in 2D and 3D geometric morphometrics as well as comparative evolutionary anatomy.

Education

B.S. Evolutionary Biology 2019 University of Iowa

B.S. Biological Anthropology 2019 University of Iowa

Publications

Wood, B., & Williams, A. (2020). Meet your exotic, extinct close relative: For a million years our ancestors in eastern Africa lived alongside creatures so peculiar that scientists today still struggle to make sense of them. American Scientist, 108(6), 348-356.