Graduate Students

Laura Johnson

My research interests lie in the biomechanics of primate positional behavior. I have two major focuses:

1. Studying the postural behavior of vertical clinging in primates. How did the ancestral primate compensate for not having claws in an arboreal habitat? 
2. The biomechanics of ateline locomotion, with collaborators Drs. Daniel Schmitt, Jean Turnquist, and Mike Rose. Because some atelines show morphological affinities with extinct early anthropoids, can our knowledge of their mechanics help us infer early anthropoid locomotion?