News
2021
Dr. Puts Presented at the OCEAN Speaker Series
Congratulations to Toe for the Gordon Bear Best Student Presentation Award from the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society!
Toe was recently awarded the Gordon Bear Best Student Presentation Award from the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society for his talk entitled “Sexual selection on voice pitch in men,” presented on July 31 at the 14th annual Evolutionary Behavioral Science Conference of the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society.
Congratulations to Talia Shirazi for receiving College’s Raymond E. Lombra and Roberta Lombra Outstanding Graduate Research Award for the social sciences!
Talia is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow, has won numerous awards from academic societies, published 13 first-authored papers in top journals, and is actively engaged in outreach. Utilizing a novel human disease model, isolated GnRH deficiency, Talia’s research provides transformative new data on relationships between sex hormones, the timing of peri-pubertal sex hormone exposure, and psychological phenotypes. Because of this work, Talia was one of 5 junior scientists worldwide—and the only student—invited to speak at the Presidential Symposium for the Society of Behavioral Neuroendocrinology in November 2020.
Congratulations Talia!
Congratulations to Dr. Shirazi for her successful dissertation defense!
Talia Shirazi passed the final oral examination for her doctorate with flying colors! Congratulations, Dr. Shirazi!
Congratulations, Dr. Shirazi!
2020
Congratulations to Kevin Rosenfield and Talia Shirazi!
Kevin Rosenfield is the recipient of the Citizenship Award. Kevin has served as President of the Departmental Graduate Student Association this year (2020-2022) and worked toward increased communication between graduate students and faculty, which led to a monthly newsletter composed in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies. Kevin won the Superior Teaching and Research (STAR) Award and also created and hosted an outreach event for middle school students introducing them to agent-based modeling.
Talia Shirazi is the recipient of the Professional Achievement Award. Talia has lead-authored 12 peer reviewed papers, coauthored two others, lead-authored three encyclopedia entries, and won numerous awards including a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and awards from the European Human Behavior and Evolution Association and the International Academy of Sex Research. She has published seven papers this year alone.
Kevin Rosenfield awarded the Dissertation Support grant
Congratulations to Kevin Rosenfield! Kevin passed his Ph.D. comprehensive exam and was awarded the RGSO Dissertation Support grant from the College of the Liberal Arts.
Congratulations to Talia Shirazi!
Congratulations to Talia Shirazi for receiving the William T. Sanders Graduate Award in Anthropology. This award honors and recognizes an outstanding professional achievement by a graduate student.
2017
Hot Topic #3
Talia presented her work regarding, “Hormonal predictors of within- and between-women variation in sociosexuality.”
Kevin gave his presentation on the topic of, “Men who recall more childhood gender nonconformity have higher salivary testosterone.”
Dr. Puts speaks at student-mentor lunch at Human Behavior and Evolution Society meeting
Dr. Puts discussed publishing with students and fellow panelists during the student-mentor lunch at the annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society in Boise, Idaho.
Dr. Puts elected to the Executive Committee of Human Behavior and Evolution Society!
Dr. Puts was elected to the Executive Committee of the Human Behavior and Evolution society. He looks forward to helping grow evolutionary approaches to human behavior by promoting diversity, helping students and other early career researchers, and facilitating outreach.
Spring research assistants graduate!
Congratulations to Kevin Garcia and Corey Everley for Graduating in the spring of 2017!
Honors Students Graduate
Congratulations to Collin Garr and Olivia Raub for graduating and completing their honors theses in the lab!
Collin Garr, Department of Anthropology, Pennylvania State University, The influence of vocal fundamental
frequency on mating-relevant attributes across human societies. April 2016-present.
Olivia Raub, Department of History, Pennsylvania State University, An analysis of the concept of sexuality in
German history in the 19th and 20th Centuries. June 2016-present
Hot Topic #2
During his live talk at the Being Human event in February 2016, Dr. David Puts explains how human vocal communication can be more than just an exchange of words. He describes how our voices can provide information about mates and competitors, and explores the origins of human sexuality by looking at the evolution of sex differences in the human voice.
Hot Topic #1
In a new paper from the journal Current Opinion in Psychology, Dr. Puts reviews evidence regarding the strength and mechanisms of sexual selection that shaped men’s and women’s anatomy, physiology, and behavior over our evolution.
Sarah Moore joins the lab!
Sarah is a 3rd year student majoring in Advertising and minoring in International Studies and Gender and Sexuality Studies!
2016
Claudia Gonzalez joins the lab!
Claudia Gonzalez is a 3rd year Biology major on the track to med. school, and a possible minor in Psychology.
New members join the lab.
Kevin Garcia, Maria Suarez, Shelby Tencza, Carly Hunter, Elizabeth Johnson, Corey Everley, Rachel Chieco, Ashlynn Montresor, Shakinah Perry, Steven Makkar, Kimberly Hoogenboom, and Nicholas Fecondo are welcomed as a part of the lab.
Shelby Tencza takes over as webmaster.
Shelby is a Biological Anthropology major, and she is planning to minor in Spanish.
Lab manager, Janie Johnson gets accepted into a graduate program.
July 2016- Lab manager, Janie Johnson gets accepted into the graduate program, “Behaviour: From Neural Mechanisms to Evolution” at Bielefeld University in Germany, and receives the Study Scholarships for Graduates of All Disciplines through the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
2015
Alex Hill gives a talk on sexual selection and vocalization in anthropoid primates.
Alex Hill gives a talk on sexual selection and vocalization in anthropoid primates at the 2015 meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society in Columbia, MO.
2014
John Wheatley receives a grant from the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts
John Wheatley receives a grant from the Penn State College of the Liberal Arts to conduct his dissertation research in Vanuatu.
John Wheatley publishes a first-authored paper on women’s faces and voices
John Wheatley publishes a first-authored paper on women’s faces and voices in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
2013
Alex Hill publishes a first-authored paper on sexual selection and male traits
Alex Hill publishes a first-authored paper on sexual selection and male traits in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior.
David Puts receives the 2013 Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution
David Puts receives the 2013 Early Career Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution from the Human Behavior and Evolution Society.
David Puts, in collaboration with graduate student John Wheatley receives a grant
David Puts, in collaboration with graduate student John Wheatley, receives a grant for $59,092 from the American Institute of Bisexuality to study the genetics of sexual orientation.
Alex Hill gives a talk on determinants of mating success
Alex Hill gives a talk on determinants of mating success at the 2013 meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research in Chicago, IL.
John Wheatley, Leslie Doll, and Lauramarie Pope present research results
John Wheatley, Leslie Doll, and Lauramarie Pope present research results at the 2013 meeting of the Northeastern Evolutionary Psychology Society.
Jay Bundy chosen for an all-expenses-paid trip to present his master’s research
Jay Bundy chosen for an all-expenses-paid trip to present his master’s research, “Total sexual selection on men’s voices,” at the Undergraduate Diversity at Evolution 2013 program, part of the 2013 Evolution Conference in Snowbird, UT.