People Lab group Spring 2009 (from left): Brenda Frazier, Joan Richtsmeier, Yann Heuzé, Neus Martínez-Abadías, John Starbuck, Chris Percival, Satama Sirivunnabood, Lisa Geleskie Photo Album Lab Members Joan Richtsmeier Dr. Richtsmeier is Professor of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University and a member of the faculty of the Graduate Program in Genetics. Dr. Richtsmeier is visiting professor in the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD and a member of the faculty of the Collaboration for Craniofacial Development and Disorders at Hopkins. Dr. Richtsmeier received her Bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College in 1977, her Master's degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1979 and her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Northwestern University in 1986. She conducted post-doctoral research at Northwestern University Medical School before joining the faculty of the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as Assistant Professor in 1987. She became Full Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy in 1999. Dr. Richtsmeier moved her laboratory to the Department of Anthropology at the Pennsylvania State University in 2000. Dr. Richtsmeier's interests include craniofacial growth and evolution, quantitative morphology, the relationship between ontogenetic mechanisms and phylogenetic change, and the molecular basis of craniofacial development. Her current research focuses on phenotype-genotype correlations in craniosynostosis and craniofacial dysmorphology in Down syndrome. The lab uses image data from patients and data from animal models created to mimic human disease. CV Neus Martínez-Abadías I am a postdoc in the Richtsmeier lab, where I study the genetic and developmental bases of the skull to understand their role in human cranial evolution. In my doctoral dissertation I used geometric morphometrics and quantitative genetic analyses to explore the evolutionary patterns of the human skull. I obtained my PhD in December 2007 (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) and I moved to Penn State in October 2008. Here I'll be working with craniosynostosis mouse models in order to explore the genotype-phenotype correspondence in this skull disease. CV Yann Heuzé Yann Heuzé is a postdoctoral researcher in the Richtsmeier lab, where his main focus is to study the nonsyndromic sagittal craniosynostosis phenotype using geometric morphometrics. More generally, he researches craniofacial and dental development from an integrative perspective, analyzing the various relationships between different craniofacial modules. Yann’s work here is a natural continuation of his former postdoc position in Innsbruck, Austria, where he studied neurocranial shape variability and designed custom implants for large skull defects. CV Brenda Frazier I am an advanced graduate student in the Richtsmeier Lab. My primary research interests involve the evolution and development of the skull in living and fossil primates. My dissertation research focuses on the changes in craniofacial morphology associated with reduced body size in mammals, and with pathologically reduced brain size in humans. CV John Starbuck I am a third year Biological Anthropology graduate student at Penn State. My interests include craniofacial development and variation, human evolution, face recognition, and 3-D methods of facial reconstruction. My current research explores craniofacial variability of human Down syndrome faces using 3D photographs and morphometric methods of analysis. CV Chris Percival Chris Percival is a doctoral candidate in biological anthropology. He is interested in the relationship between processes of development and evolution, especially as this relationship applies to human evolution. Other areas of academic interest include; human variation, skeletal morphology, the influence of the environment on development and evolution, the quantification and analysis of biological form, and remote sensing. He is currently involved in a number of projects in the lab that involve the comparison of form between experimental populations as a way to understand the development and evolution of craniofacial phenotypes. CV Satama Sirivunnabood I have been working in the Richtsmeier Lab as a programmer and database analyst since January 2007. My responsibilities in the lab involve database administration and sometimes developing specific purpose programs in response to special requirements from other researchers. Currently, I am a Ph.D. student at the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. My research interests are applications of IT and Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) in supply chain networks, manufacturing, and service industries. CV Collaborators Roger Reeves, PhD Subhash Lele, PhD Theodore Cole, III, PhD Simeon Boyadjiev Boyd, PhD Kenneth M. Weiss, PhD Alan Walker, PhD James M. Cheverud, PhD Jeff Rogers, PhD Kristina Aldridge, PhD Valerie DeLeon, PhD Cheryl Hill, PhD Ethylin W Jabs, PhD Lab Alumnae Kristina Aldridge Kristina received her Ph.D degree from the Functional Anatomy and Evolution program at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2004. She is now Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology & Anatomical Sciences at the University of Missouri. Kristina's interests include development and evolution of the brain, genetic and epigenetic influences on brain morphology, and genotype-phenotype correlations in the craniofacial complex. Her current research focuses on patterns of organizational change in the brain across human evolutionary history and the interaction of skeletal and neural tissues over the course of human development. Valerie DeLeon I am a faculty member at the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, where I completed my doctorate in 2004. My work in Dr. Richtsmeier’s lab as a student sparked my interest in growth and development of the juvenile skull at both morphological and cellular levels. My current research interests include morphological integration, fluctuating asymmetry as an indication of developmental stability, brain dysmorphology in autism and related disorders, and morphometric methods and software. Cheryl Hill Congratulations to Cheryl, who defended her thesis this summer and is now a postdoc in Kristina Aldridge's lab at the University of Missouri! Cheryl's interests include the development and evolution of the skull, phenotype-genotype correlations, and craniofacial dysmorphology in Down syndrome. Her dissertation work analyzed temporal bone pneumatization across Hominine evolutionary history and throughout human development. Anita Lubensky Anita finished her dissertation "Three-Dimensional Analysis of Age-Related Change in the Adult Craniofacial Skeleton" in 2004, earning her doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Since leaving Baltimore she has taught biology at San Diego City College. Anita received her B.A. in anthropology from the University of Kansas in 1995. Her interests include age-related change in adult craniofacial morphology, atlanto-axial instability (AAI) associated with Down Syndrome, and osteopathology. Anita also loves teaching, traveling, reading, writing, gardening, and boogie-boarding. Katherine Willmore Although Kat has physically moved back to her Canadian homeland, she continues her research with the lab remotely. She uses morphometric techniques to address questions related to the evolution and development of the mammalian skull.  Recent projects have coupled measures of craniofacial phenotypic variation with specific developmental-genetic disruptions to gain a better understanding of how the genotype is translated into the phenotype.  Her research in the Richtsmeier lab is an extension of this previous work, focusing on the genetic basis of cranial variation and its role in anthropoid cranial evolution. Peng Yan Peng got her Master's degree from the Computer Science and Engineering department at Penn State in spring 2005. She spent several years as the lab's chief programmer and database manager. Her own reasearch involves mobile database systems and database management. Peng enjoys cooking and playing with her adorable kids.