Background
Brian Keeling is a paleoanthropologist who investigates the evolutionary and biomechanical links between human jaw shape and oral behaviors. Specifically, his research aims to shed light on the mysteries behind the evolution of the human jaw in our species and our closest, yet extinct, genetic relatives, the Neandertals.
A Fulbright Scholar and recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence, Keeling innovates open-sourced methods designed to promote scientific accessibility in reconstructing ancient oral behaviors to explain the functional and evolutionary mechanisms that produced diagnostic human skeletal features of the jawbone, such as the human chin and lower jaw apparatus in Neandertals. He currently investigates human evolution through international research collaborations and participates in ongoing Neandertal excavations at the Sierra de Atapuerca UNESCO World Heritage Site located in northern Spain.
Education
- PhD, Binghamton University
- MA, Binghamton University
- BS, Illinois State University
Research Interests
- Paleoanthropology
- Virtual anthropology
- Pleistocene human evolution
- Evolutionary morphology
- Mandibular biomechanics
Teaching Interests
- Virtual anthropology
- Human origins
- Human skeleton
- Statistics in anthropology
- Advanced multivariate statistics
Awards
- Fulbright Pre-Doctoral Research Grant
- SUNY Chancellor’s Distinguished Dissertation Award (Nominated)
- SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence
- Binghamton University’s Graduate Student Excellence in Research
- Richard Antoun Dissertation Year Award