Research

I am a biological anthropologist who studies human evolution. My main research interests include the study of hominin (humans and the extinct relatives) taxonomy and phylogeny using cranial morphology, the application of geometric morphometrics to study skeletal variation, and the evolutionary history of Plio-Pleistocene Homo.  

I am currently a postdoc / lecturer in the  Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University. I earned my Ph.D. in anthropology at the City University of New York (part of the New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology) in 2007.

Click here for CV (updated 06.29.2009).

Ongoing Projects

Homo erectus is an extinct species of early human that populated Africa, Eurasia, and Asia throughout most of the Pleistocene epoch. Homo erectus was the first species to migrate out of Africa and exhibited considerable size variation throughout its geographic range. My research focuses on the taxonomy and evolutionary history of this key hominin species by quantifying, describing, and analyzing the shape of the skull using 3D geometric morphometric techniques. 

With colleagues I am exploring the expression of cranial robusticity in a global sample of modern humans. Robust cranial features have been used to support a phylogenetic relationship between modern humans from Australia to Homo erectus from Java. The causal basis of cranial robusticity is not well understood, however. Our study aims to clarify whether the pattern of cranial robusticity fits expectations for a neutral model of evolution or whether selection has shaped the expression of robust cranial features.

With Dr. William Jungers (Stony Brook University) and Dr. Jonathan Perry (Midwestern University), I am examining skull form and function in extant and subfossil lemurs from Madagascar using a combination of traditional linear and 3D geometric morphometrics.

Peer Reviewed Publications

Baab, K.L. 2008. The taxonomic implications of cranial shape variation in Homo erectus. Journal of Human Evolution. 54: 827-847. Download pdf.

Baab, K.L. 2008. A re-evaluation of the taxonomic affinities of the early Homo cranium KNM-ER 42700. Journal of Human Evolution. 55: 741-746. Download pdf.

Baab, K.L. and McNulty, K.P. 2008. Size, shape, and asymmetry in fossil hominins: The status of the LB1 cranium based on 3D morphometric analyses. Journal of Human Evolution. Early View. Download pdf.

Baab, K.L., Freidline, S.E., Wang, S.L., and Hanson, T. 2009. Relationship of cranial robusticity to cranial form, geography and climate in Homo sapiens. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Early View. Download pdf.

Popular Media Coverage of "Hobbit" Study

The American Museum of Natural History did a Human Bulletin piece that featured our research and a video is currently featured in the Hall of Human Origins (through Feb. 6, 2009). Navigate directly to the AMNH webpage.

Several on-line news outlets also covered this story, including USA Today,  National Geographic, the Guardian (UK), and ScienceDaily.