Robert S. Walker

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Junior Research Group in Integrative Primate Socio-Ecology

email: robert_walker@eva.mpg.de, website: http://www.eva.mpg.de/~robert_walker

 

EDUCATION

•         Ph.D. with distinction in August 2004, University of New Mexico, Department of Anthropology, Doctoral dissertation title: “Evolution of the human life history: Ontogeny and behavior in two South American indigenous populations”

•         M.S. with distinction in November 2001, University of New Mexico, Department of Anthropology

•         B.A. with Honors in December 1998, Colorado State University, Department of Anthropology, Magna cum laude

 

EMPLOYMENT

•         Postdoctoral researcher, Junior Research Group in Integrative Primate Socio-Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany, 2007-present

•         Research Assistant Professor, Anthropology Department, University of Colorado at Denver, 2006-7

•         Lecturer, Anthropology Department, University of New Mexico, 2006

•         Lecturer, Anthropology Department, University of California-Santa Barbara, 2005

•         Lab worker, Abratech Corporation (NIH-funded), Sausalito, California, 2004

 

TEACHING

•         “Introduction to Biological Anthropology” and “Darwinian Approach to Human Behavior”, CU-Denver, 2007

•         “Human Lifecourse”, “Human Evolutionary Ecology”, and “Human Biology”, UNM, 2006

•         “Human Growth and Development”, UCSB, 2005

•         Graduate Assistant for “Anthropology 101”, UNM, 4 semesters, 1999-2001

•         Teaching Assistant for “Archaeological Field School” and “Archaeological Practicum”, CSU, 1999

 

RESEARCH INTERESTS

•         Human life history evolution, behavioral ecology, hunter-gatherers, South America, growth and development, comparative primate analyses, agent-based modeling, optimality modeling, structural equation modeling, and metabolic scaling

 

PUBLICATIONS

•         Walker, R. S., M. Gurven, O. Burger, and M. J. Hamilton (under review) The trade-off between number and size of offspring in humans and other primates. Behavioral Ecology.

•         Walker, R. and M. J. Hamilton (in press) Life history consequences of density dependence in the evolution of human body sizes. Current Anthropology report.

•         Hamilton, M. J., B. T. Milne, R. S. Walker, O. Burger, and J. H. Brown (2007) The complex structure of hunter-gatherer social networks. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 274:2195-2202.

•         Hamilton, M. J., B. T. Milne, R. S. Walker, and J. H. Brown (2007) Nonlinear scaling of space use in human hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 104:4765-4769.

•         Hill, K., A. M. Hurtado, and R. Walker (2007) High adult mortality among Hiwi hunter-gatherers: Implications for human evolution. Journal of Human Evolution 52:443-454.

•         Walker, R., O. Burger, J. Wagner, and C. Von Rueden (2006) Evolution of brain size and juvenile periods in primates. Journal of Human Evolution 51:480-89.

•         Walker, R., M. Gurven, K. Hill, A. Migliano, N. Chagnon, R. De Souza, G. Djurovic, R. Hames, A. M. Hurtado, H. Kaplan, K. Kramer, W. J. Oliver, C. Valeggia, and T. Yamauchi (2006) Growth rates and life histories in twenty-two small-scale societies. American Journal of Human Biology 18:295-311 (feature article).

•         Walker, R., K. Hill, O. Burger, and A. M. Hurtado (2006) Life in the slow lane revisited: Ontogenetic separation between chimpanzees and humans. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 129:577-583.

•         Gurven, M. and R. Walker (2006) Energetic demand of multiple dependents and the evolution of slow human growth. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 273: 835-841.

•         Burger, O., M. Hamilton, and R. Walker (2005) The prey as patch model: A marginal gains curve for vertebrate prey. Journal of Archaeological Science 32:1147-1158.

•         Walker, R. and K. Hill (2003) Modeling growth and senescence in physical performance among the Ache of Eastern Paraguay. American Journal of Human Biology 15:196-208.

•         Walker, R., K. Hill, H. Kaplan, and G. MacMillan (2002) Age-dependency in hunting ability among the Ache of eastern Paraguay. Journal of Human Evolution 42:639-657.

•         Todd, L. C., D. C. Jones, R. Walker, P. Burnett, and J. Eighmy (2001) Late archaic bison hunters in Northern Colorado: 1997-1999 Excavations at the Kaplan-Hoover Bison Bonebed (5LR3953). Plains Anthropologist 46:125-147.

 

BOOK REVIEWS

•         Walker, R. (2006) Review of "The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Hunters and Gatherers", eds. Lee, R. and R. Daly. Journal of Anthropological Research 62:264-266.

•         Walker, R. (2005) Review of "Methods in Human Growth Research", eds. Hauspie, R. L., N. Cameron, and L. Molinari. American Journal of Human Biology 17:211-212.

 

AWARDS

•         National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, August 2001-August 2004

•         UNM Lewis R. Binford Graduate Fellowship, August 1999-May 2002

•         UNM Brolio-Basehart SAA Poster Award, April 2001

•         CSU Distinguished Scholar’s Award, President’s Scholarship, and Center for Human Paleoecology Distinguished Student Award

•         5th Annual CSU Undergraduate Research and Creativity Symposium, Poster of Highest Distinction Award

 

FIELDWORK

•         Postdoctoral research, demographic survey of Carib populations in Brazil and Suriname, Fall 2006

•         Postdoctoral research, visual evoked potentials/electroencephalography, Ache forager-horticulturists, Paraguay, June-July 2004 and February-March 2005

•         Doctoral dissertation fieldwork, Makú-Nadëb horticultural-foragers, Rio Uneiuxi Indigenous Area, Amazonas, Brazil, December 2002-December 2003

•         Doctoral dissertation fieldwork, Ache forager-horticulturists, eastern Paraguay, May-August 2000, January 2001, & June 2002

•         Archaeology, Rio Rancho Site, New Mexico, November 1999-March 2000

•         Archaeology, Hudson-Meng Bison Bonebed, Nebraska, May 1998 and Summer 1999

•         Archaeology, Vore Buffalo Jump, Wyoming, July 1998

•         Archaeology, Kaplan-Hoover Bison Bonebed, Colorado, June 1998-May 1999

•         Coastal and Rainforest Ecology, School for Field Studies, British Columbia, Spring 1996

 

RESEARCH GRANTS

•         LSB Leakey Foundation General Research Grant, 2007 fieldwork in Venezuela

•         LSB Leakey Foundation General Research Grant (with PI John Wagner), 2005 fieldwork in Paraguay

•         Wenner-Gren Foundation Dissertation Research Grant (#6941), 2003 fieldwork in Brazil

•         National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant, 2003 fieldwork in Brazil

•         LSB Leakey Foundation General Research Grant, 2003 fieldwork in Brazil

•         UNM Student Research and Allocations Committee Grant, 2002 dissertation reconnaissance in Brazil

•         UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute Grant, 2002 dissertation reconnaissance in Brazil

•         UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute Grant, 2001 dissertation reconnaissance in Brazil

•         UNM Latin American and Iberian Institute Grant, 2000-2001 fieldwork in Paraguay

•         UNM Research, Projects, and Travel Grant, 2000 fieldwork in Paraguay

•         UNM Student Research and Allocations Committee Grant, 2000 fieldwork in Paraguay

 

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS

•         Walker, R. (2007) The trade-off between number and size of offspring in humans and other primates, 19th Annual Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Williamsburg, Virginia.

•         Walker, R. (2007) Density dependence and human life history evolution, 76th Annual American Association for Physical Anthropologists (invited symposium), Philadelphia.

•         Walker, R. (2006) Life history consequences of density dependence in the evolution of hunter-gatherer body sizes, 18th Annual Human Behavior and Evolution Society, Philadelphia.

•         Walker, R. and K. Hill (2006) Activity patterns and health of the Ache hunter-gatherers of Paraguay, 53rd Annual American College of Sports Medicine Meeting (invited symposium), Denver.

•         Walker, R. (2006) Are there two human ontogenies?, 75th Annual American Association for Physical Anthropologists, Anchorage.

•         Walker, R. (2005) Growth rates and life histories in 21 small-scale societies, UNM Human Evolutionary and Behavioral Sciences (invited lecture), Albuquerque.

•         Walker, R., K. Hill, H. Kaplan, and G. MacMillan (2001) Hunting ability among the Ache of eastern Paraguay, 5th Annual UNM Graduate Symposium, Albuquerque.

•         Walker, R. and M. Gurven (2000) Food transfer analysis of the Hiwi, a foraging society in Venezuela, 4th Annual UNM Graduate Symposium, Albuquerque.

•         Walker, R. and C. P. Egeland (1999) Ontogenetic dental variation in a 2700-year-old bison deme: A mortality event on the Poudre, 57th Annual Plains Anthropological Conference, Sioux Falls.

•         Walker, R. (1996) Ecological and geomorphological assessment of the hydroriparian zone of Ah’ta’apq Creek, Management for a Living Hesquiaht Harbor Conference, British Columbi

 
 
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