ABOUT ME
I am a vertebrate paleontologist and anatomist with a broad interest in the paleoecology and paleobiology of fossil primates. My research areas include primate dental form & function, systematics of Miocene monkeys and apes, and African mammal community dynamics in deep-time. I also mentor medical student research on clinically-relevant anatomical variation and anatomy education.
I am an Associate Professor of Anatomy at the Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine where I teach content in gross anatomy, embryology, & histology.
I received my PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology from Arizona State University in 2021 and I retain an ongoing research affiliation with the ASU’s Institute of Human Origins. My dissertation research used 3D methods to study how molar tooth shape (as a proxy for diet) changed in early members of the Old World monkey clade (Cercopithecoidea) compared to early apes and their shared ancestors in Africa.
Victoriapithecus macinnesi, a ~15 million year old fossil monkey from Maboko Island, Kenya
I am a current collaborator on the Maboko Research Project in southwestern Kenya and the Buluk Paleontological Research Project in northern Kenya, exploring the paleoenvironments and fauna associated with two different primate communities at the early-middle Miocene transition.
CONTACT ME
Email: elocke@icom.edu
Mailing Address: 1401 E Central Dr, Meridian, ID 83642
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ellis_Locke