I study primate functional and evolutionary anatomy. Much of my work focuses on major transformations in the locomotor skeleton that occurred during ape and human evolution. I am particularly interested in three changes of the axial skeleton (head, thorax, and vertebral column) that took place in the Miocene (~ 23 to 5 million years ago [Ma]): 1) tail loss in early apes, 2) the adoption of more upright trunk postures and locomotor behaviors in apes of a modern aspect, and 3) the acquisition of adaptations to bipedalism (walking and running on two legs) in the earliest members of the human lineage. My research emphasizes comparative, evolutionary, ontogenetic, and experimental frameworks, and combines lab- and field- based approaches. My research lab at Stony Brook University houses morphometric equipment and custom-built computer workstations for the collection, visualization, and analysis of traditional and advanced (e.g., 3-dimensional) anatomical datasets. I am also Director of paleontological research at a Middle Miocene site (Napudet; 13 Ma) in Kenya known for yielding ape fossils. My dual-stream research program positions me to both discover (via field work) the fossils that serve as primary data in studies concerning ape and human evolution, and analyze (via lab work) the links between anatomy and behavior among living primates and other mammals to make better inferences about the lifestyles of extinct apes and early human ancestors.