Briana Pobiner Research

I have conducted fieldwork, experimental studies, and collections-based research in Indonesia, Kenya, Romania, South Africa, Tanzania, and the United States. My research has been supported by the Fulbright-Hays program, the Leakey Foundation, the National Geographic Society, the National Science Foundation, Rutgers University, the Society for American Archaeology, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation.

Since I joined the Smithsonian in 2005 as a research fellow to help develop the Hall of Human Origins, in addition to continuing my active field, laboratory, and experimental research programs, I lead the Human Origins Program’s education and outreach efforts which includes public program facilitation, exhibition volunteer training, website content development, and social media management. I have also more recently developed a research program in evolution education and science communication, and I write articles for popular magazines like this one on meat-eating among the earliest humans in American Scientist.

I am the recipient of the 2021 American Association of Biological Anthropologists and Leakey Foundation Communication and Outreach Award in Honor of Camilla Smith, and a 2021 National Center for Science Education Friend of Darwin award. I received my BA from Bryn Mawr College (1997), where I created an independent major called Evolutionary Studies, and my MA (2002) and PhD (2007) in Anthropology from Rutgers University. I am also an Associate Research Professor of Anthropology in the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at the George Washington University, where I teach classes on zooarchaeology and science communication.

You can follow me on Twitter @BrianaPobiner.