Meet Emilee Hart, the Second Place Three Minute Thesis Competition Award recipient. Emilee is a Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. student majoring in Human Evolutionary Biology.
Please give a short overview of your research.
My research is on the hormonal life history of gibbons or the small apes. Gibbons are not one of our closest living relatives (the Great Apes) but they can still gives us a valuable insight into the mechanisms behind the extended life history of primates and even of the apes in comparison to monkeys. With my research, I collect samples from zoos all over the United States that house gibbons at important stages of development including childhood, puberty, and parenthood to see how adrenal function changes throughout these stressful periods. One of the most exciting parts of my research is trying to understand the mechanisms behind the sexual dichromatism seen in these small apes that is not seen in most primate and even in most mammals. Their fur color patterns also change throughout development and I believe the answer to why that happens is in the adrenal gland.
What are your future goals?
I would like to be an anthropology professor one day but I would also like to use my research on stress in primates to rehabilitating primates that are rescued from the illegal pet trade.
What does this award mean to you and how will it aid you?
Gibbons are not one of the better known apes like your gorillas, chimps, or orangutans which are still awesome themselves. But gibbons often get forgotten about with discussions on apes. This award will continue my work with gibbons but this also gave me an opportunity to talk about these species in front of a group of people who may have never heard about them before.