Congratulations to CHES Graduate Affiliates Natalie Robinson and Becca DeCamp on receiving prestigious research grants from the Leakey Foundation! Selected among an international cohort of researchers, both received funding to support innovative doctoral research that advances our understanding of primate evolution, behavior, and conservation.
Natalie Robinson, a Ph.D. candidate working with Dr. Erin Vogel, studies how environmental conditions, nutrition, and energetics shape female reproductive function in wild orangutans at the Tuanan Orangutan Research Station in Indonesian Borneo. Her research combines non-invasive hormone analyses, behavioral observations, and ecological monitoring to understand how changing rainforest environments influence reproduction in one of our closest living relatives. The Leakey Foundation grant will support a 12-month field season in Indonesia and provide training opportunities for Indonesian undergraduate students in field and laboratory research. To read more: https://grad.rutgers.edu/news/studying-orangutan-reproduction
Rebecca (Becca) DeCamp, a Ph.D. candidate working with Dr. Christina Bergey, investigates how natural selection has shaped genes involved in sperm form and function across primates with different mating systems. Their research examines whether similar evolutionary pressures have independently acted on these genes in Malagasy primates with group-living, multi-male/multi-female and monogamous mating systems, providing new insights into the evolution of reproductive biology.
Congratulations to Natalie and Becca on this outstanding achievement!
We look forward to following their exciting research.