Nicholas Post — the URECA researcher of the month for April 2021 — is a nontraditional, first-generation college student majoring in Anthropology, currently doing an honors thesis on Hominin Phylogenetics under the mentorship of Professor Frederick Grine, Departments of Anthropology and Anatomical Sciences, and Carrie Mongle from the American Museum of Natural History, who is an incoming assistant professor in Stony Brook’s Department of Anthropology.
In Fall 2019 when Post re-matriculated to Stony Brook University, he joined Dr. Grine’s research group, which investigates the hominin fossil record. His project focuses on frontal sinus volumes of Late Stone Age Khoesan crania.
In Summer 2020 Post was selected to participate in the virtual NSF-REU Biology program at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, where he began to work under the direction of Dr. Mongle on “Re-evaluating Human Evolution: The Role of Postcranial Data in Reconstructing Hominin Evolutionary Relationships.”
On campus Post has served as a teaching assistant for ANP 120: Introduction to Biological Anthropology. He presented “The Role of Outgroup Selection in Reconstructing Fossil Hominin Phylogeny” at the Stony Brook Young Investigators Review (SBYIR) Fall 2020 Symposium, and will be presenting a poster this month at the 2021 American Association of Physical Anthropologists virtual conference on “Implications of Outgroup Selection in Reconstructing Hominin Phylogeny.”
Following graduation in December 2021, Post plans to pursue a PhD in Biological Anthropology.
Look for his poster at the upcoming annual URECA virtual symposium on May 5.
Add comment