Hello and welcome to my website.
I am a biological anthropologist, a scientist who studies the human animal. More specifically, I am a paleoanthropologist. I study the fossil record of human evolution by researching both anatomical variation and function in living people and our primate relatives, then applying those data to the human fossil record. I am a lower limb evolution specialist. These narrow interests come from my broad fascination with animals – what Darwin called “endless forms most beautiful.”
I am also a four-field anatomist, with training and expertise in gross anatomy, embryology, neuroanatomy, and histology. I’ve worked as an anatomy professor for almost a decade, and recently became Medical Human Anatomy Director and Associate Professor at the Colorado University School of Medicine’s new branch campus at Colorado State University. Our inaugural class of medical students will arrive in the Summer of 2021. The curricular framework uses a One Health approach.
As a research fellow at the University of the Witwatersrand’s Evolutionary Studies Institute in Johannesburg, I am grateful to be able to conduct paleoanthropological research and contribute to South African science.
Originally from Lansing, Michigan, I earned my BS in Anthropology-Zoology from the University of Michigan, my MS in Human Biology from the University of Indianapolis, and my PhD in Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My Twitter handle is @throckman.